FDP federal councilor Karin Keller-Sutter (58) will be the new finance minister. The brand new SVP man Albert Rösti (55) takes over the energy department (Uvek). How did that happen?
The story told in Bundesbern goes like this: the FDP and SVP have come to an agreement. The deal of the power cartel: Keller-Sutter gets the vacated seat of SVP bag master Ueli Maurer (72) – Albert Rösti can go directly to the Ministry of Energy for this. SP Interior Minister Alain Berset (50) comes away empty-handed. He must stay where he is.
But did it really happen? One thing is certain: there are never so many lies as in the Federal Council elections.
The latest twist comes from Berset’s extended circle: it is now said that he did not want to leave the Ministry of the Interior (EDI). No wonder – Berset doesn’t want to look like a loser. This is contradicted by the fact that he had been targeting the finance department for years. Yet the interior minister did not allow a vote on Thursday when the Federal Council redistributed the departments. Instead, Keller-Sutter went for it.
Not interested in UVEK
And the uvek? That didn’t interest Berset. As a senior civil servant, the Bundesrat as a whole would hardly have rejected this request.
Instead, Rösti seized the ward. There was no mood without a fight. And therefore no clear losers like in 2018. Nevertheless, the Left and Greens made indignant statements: SP had no chance! Political cartel! Citizens bury energy transition!
Couldn’t Berset – or wouldn’t he? “The right-wing majority has marched through,” says SP vice-chairman Jon Pult (38). “There was no chance to shake the pact between the FDP and the SVP.”
This upsets FDP chairman Thierry Burkart (47): “There was no agreement between the FDP and the SVP. The distribution of the divisions is a matter for the Federal Council.” However, Keller-Sutter’s move to the EFD was clear from the start. Civil society and business associations had made it clear early on that they wanted to avoid a SP finance minister. That’s where power politics played.
Does that also apply to Rösti in Uvek? “He didn’t come to the UVEK with the support of the FDP,” says Thierry Burkart. “That was not necessary at all, the meeting was apparently consensual. If the SP had wanted the uvek with Alain Berset, they would have got it.”
SP chairman Cédric Wermuth (36) contradicts: “It is not the case that the department division is only decided at that meeting.” It started weeks earlier: “The deal between the FDP and SVP had been settled for a long time.”
EDI is more important
One thing is certain: a change from Berset would have meant that his department would be in the hands of the citizens – and that would be worse for the SP than Atom-Rösti in the UVEK. Wermuth: “EDI is important to us: the pension issue, health policy, the danger of dual medicine. It is understandable that Alain Berset wanted to prevent EDI from going to the FDP or SVP.”
Defense Minister Viola Amherd (60) was not bothered by this. And yet she didn’t move. As UVEK top man, the former transport politician could have continued with the energy transition that her fellow party member Doris Leuthard (59) once initiated.
“What applies to Alain Berset also applies to Viola Amherd,” says FDP chairman Burkart. “She would have gotten the UVEK if she wanted it.” No new federal councilor is given preference against the will of a previous one. “The fact that we would have participated in such a thing is an innuendo.”
Amherd wanted to stay in the army. Even middle parliamentarians are annoyed by this: they have made it too easy for themselves. Group chairman Philipp Matthias Bregy (44) from Mitte protects Amherd: “She would also have been a good minister of energy and transport. However, in the middle of the Ukraine war, she decided to continue the important task in the DDPS while serving the country. »
The fact is: Rösti was given to the Energy Department as a gift. Neither Amherd nor Berset fought for it. And: the climate is not a priority for Rösti. “He will put security of supply first,” says SVP National Councilor Michael Graber (41). Is the new Minister of Transport now building the country with highways? Graber: “He takes private transport into account more than his predecessor. And that’s right.”
The Greens see black
The Greens are already sounding the alarm on all channels. And not just out of concern for the climate: they open the election campaign with their barrage. In 2007, the SVP received votes with the slogan “Strengthen Blocher – vote for SVP”. Now the Greens are turning the tables: “The oil baron is taking over the uvek. A nightmare for climate and environmental protection. Reinforce green now!»
The FDP is starting the election year stronger than castling, the Greens are riding the anti-rösti wave – and the SP is starting with a minister of the interior who has just been elected federal president with a paltry 140 votes. Does an SP chair wobble now? Vice President Jon Pult (38) dismisses: “Alain Berset is the most popular federal councilor among the people. And for the parliamentary elections, it doesn’t matter which magistrate heads which department.” Pult assumes that the distribution of seats will not change quickly.
Bregy, leader of the center group, says: “We oppose attacks on incumbent federal councilors. Discussions about the distribution of seats only make sense if there are vacancies.” But then it was clear to him: “Mathematically, the left-green are entitled to two seats together. They have to divide it among themselves.” In the end it probably comes down to an attack by the Greens on the SP.
And Eva Herzog (60)? The Basel woman will remain in the Council of States. Thierry Burkart announced that the next SP magistrate should be German-Swiss. But the Jurassic Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (58) was chosen – with many votes from the FDP.
Why? Several sources report that Karin Keller-Sutter has stirred up feelings against Herzog in her party – because the FDP federal councilor does not tolerate a strong woman next to her. Shortly before the elections, Burkart then preached to the faction that Baume-Schneider was an advantage for the bourgeoisie because the Jura weakened the SP in the election year.
In other words, the business party FDP helped prevent a city business representative – for tactical reasons and because of their own federal councilor’s sensibilities. Power politics, here too.
Keller-Sutter gets the finance department, Rösti becomes energy minister.
The two didn’t even have to fight for it.
Camilla AlborDanny Smurf
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
