“I admired Elisabeth Kopp”

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“I admired Elisabeth Kopp. I met her in the National Council, and later we sat together in the Federal Council for a good year. It was a nice time. I can still remember how she was celebrated after her election. Never before had a politician received so much sympathy and respect as Mrs Kopp after her election. You could literally hear the country panting: Finally, the first woman!

Elisabeth Kopp was a strong woman who convinced the Bundesrat. She has a sharp analytical mind and a global vision. She was courageous and conscientious and radiated great conscientiousness.

She used the fact that she was the only woman on the board for her politics – in a positive sense. You could see how happy she was to be the first woman elected to the Federal Council. And we men valued her as a colleague. The fact that we have a woman in government has also attracted international attention. In 1987, then US President Ronald Reagan received her. Elisabeth Kopp – and not the Federal President!

When I think of her, I also think of the sad goodbye. When she had to say goodbye to us and I knew: this is the last time I see her in the Federal Palace. What she had to go through around her discharge was almost inhumane. She never corrected your husband’s untrue statements, although she could have. She got caught up in her statements. That was her downfall.

After her discharge, I occasionally sent her a bunch of flowers, or a book or a speech that I found exciting. After that we spoke occasionally by phone. The last time I saw her was last summer, at the traditional meeting of the old federal councilors with the incumbents of the government. Her health was very bad and she was in a wheelchair. That sight hurt.

Today I ask myself: couldn’t we have handled this crisis differently? What was certainly lacking was the political instinct on the part of the Bundesrat, parliament and perhaps also the FDP, the necessary authority and leadership at the beginning of the suspicions surrounding her husband’s role. That challenged Switzerland politically and led to the PUK.”

Source:Blick