Controversy over images in the Federal Palace

Christmas miracles shouldn’t come as a surprise in Bern. After all, Bethlehem is part of the federal city. The most recent miracle took place at the Federal Palace, it went like this: The newly elected Federal Councilor Albert Rösti (55, SVP) received an e-bike and a photo of the Blüemlisalp, Kandersteg’s home mountain ceremony from the municipality at his election in Kandersteeg.

The second gift in particular suited him very well, said Rösti during the election ceremony on the station square. He complained that he was allowed to take over the office from his predecessor Simonetta Sommaruga (62, SP), but not the photo in her office.

Rösti can have the plant anyway

Blick then wanted to know why the newly elected federal councilor was not allowed to decorate the room. After all, this work of art is the property of the Swiss Confederation. But just leave a picture that was already attached to the previous one – but apparently that’s not so easy with the federal government. According to Rösti, Sommaruga was initially against it.

But now comes the good news for the celebration of love. A spokeswoman for the Environment and Energy Department announced: “Federal Councilor Rösti is welcome to hold the work in his future office.” How the Christmas miracle came about – the ways of the Lord are inscrutable and those of the federal government are complicated.

A gift from the asylum critic

So Rösti can be happy with that. Or not? Does he know what kind of artwork he got? Local artist Christine Isperian designed the Swiss flag, which is made from a variety of textiles. Unlike a traditional Swiss flag, the Isperian flag consists of Balkan floral scarves, Asian batiks, and Indian silk. This work shows Switzerland as a multicultural patchwork.

Filmmaker Fernand Melgar (61) donated the flag to the Confederacy in 2018. He had bought it himself four years earlier. The director told 24 Heures that the work reminded him “perfectly of our country,” which was created by successive waves of migration. Melgar is considered a harsh critic of Swiss asylum policy. In 2011 his documentary “Vol spécial” showed daily life in the deportation prison.

At the time, Melgar received praise for the film from Federal Councilman Sommaruga, of all people. At a film festival, the Minister of Justice, who was responsible for Swiss asylum policy at the time, called “Vol spécial” an “extremely important film that summarizes the dilemma of our rule of law”.

gifts from kings

Frankincense, gold and myrrh are the gifts that the baby Jesus probably did not know what to do with. Rösti, on the other hand, is happy with the flag, even though the origin of the parts is no less exotic than the gifts from the Three Kings.