class=”sc-3778e872-0 cKDKQr”>
On Wednesday evening, the room in restaurant Bellevue in Naters VS is packed. The hope of the Upper Valais SVP is on stage and talks the climate protection law into the ground. “This law does nothing for the climate,” SVP Reich Councilor Michael Graber (41) calls into the room. “The goal of net zero by 2050 is utopian.” The law has one effect in particular: “It will cost us a lot!”
According to Graber, energy costs will increase by up to CHF 6,600 per capita. In addition, there would be two billion francs for the heating replacement program. “No one installs oil-fired heating anymore.”
Graves that are hardly known outside Valais
Approving head nod, strong applause. Opinions of viewers, local SVP members, are made. Lots of costs, no benefits. A home game for Graber.
The fighter and lawyer is hardly known outside Wallis. That will probably change in the coming months. The SVP has made Graber campaign manager for the “Electricity Guzzler Bill”, as the party calls the climate law that will be voted on June 18. A vote of confidence from the party leadership. Because newcomer Graber has only been on the National Council for two years.
“He is a champion and tackles it,” party chairman Marco Chiesa (48) responded to the decision. “He proved that when he brought the referendum on the electricity-guzzling law to the finish line.”
Interest in politics arose when he was twenty
A week earlier at the Federal Palace, on the sidelines of the special session. In his youth he was hardly interested in politics, says Graber with disarming frankness. But he was quite close to nature. “There are incriminating pictures of me in a Greenpeace T-shirt.” Graber grins. He was then 14 years old. “I’ve always loved animals.” Posters of whales hung in his bedroom.
He was politicized by the attacks on the World Trade Center at the age of twenty, “that’s when I realized how fragile our free society is”. He was also shaped by the deselection of Christoph Blocher from the Federal Council in 2007. “I thought that was extremely unfair.”
Soon after, Graber decided to join the SVP. His father, a staunch CVP politician, was not happy about it. “He wanted to disinherit me. And warned me that as a member of the SVP in Valais I would not make any progress.” Graber, who already paid little attention to the opinions of others, refuted him. Became general secretary, then member of the council and finally leader of the SVP Oberwallis.
Appreciated by fellow party members for his direct demeanor
He also quickly made a name for himself in Bern. In the party then – barely elected – he voted for the Covid certificate instead of against. And in the Federal Palace as a political warhorse. Because Wallis, who sometimes votes for animal welfare, is polarizing.
Party colleagues appreciate Graber for his direct, outspoken manner. “He is straightforward and always keeps his word,” says party leader Chiesa. Other parties, on the other hand, see Graber as an “uncompromising hardliner,” as one national councilor put it. “He’s a go-getter,” says another. But: “He does not feel responsible for finding a majority, but for representing the Valais tribal table.”
Graber would probably take that as a compliment. Leading the no campaign against climate protection law is the current highlight of his career.
Can Graber build on the SVP’s success?
But can the lawyer repeat what the SVP did two years ago? During that time, the party also held the referendum against a climate law – and achieved a coup: voters rejected the CO₂ law with 51.6 percent of the vote against.
This time the starting position for the People’s Party is a lot more difficult.
In the summer of 2021, the SVP benefited from the mobilization of the rural population, which – startled by the agricultural initiatives – went on a pilgrimage to the polls en masse. Moreover, the bourgeois camp was divided: parts of the FDP and Mitte openly rejected the CO₂ law.
Parliament has learned its lessons from this and, with the indirect counter-proposal to the glacier initiative, has drawn up a bill that creates incentives instead of taxes. Two billion francs have been earmarked for the replacement of oil and gas heating systems over a ten-year period; there is also a pot of CHF 1.2 billion for the promotion of innovative technologies in companies. The result: this time, the center and the FDP are almost united behind the template.
The global political situation has also changed. “The war in Ukraine has shown us how dangerous dependence on fossil fuels is,” says central politician Stefan Müller-Altermatt (46).
Still skeptical voices from the bourgeois camp
Still, skeptical voices can be heard in the middle class camp this time too. The Association of Owners and Gastrosuisse speak out against the climate law. And while the Mitte Party is passionately pushing for a yes, the FDP’s focus is on the OECD minimum tax proposal. Add inflation to that, people are worried about rising prices.
Political scientist Michael Hermann (51) summarizes the initial situation as follows: “The approval for the climate law should be higher than for the CO₂ law – but it is not a guaranteed success.”
Michael Graber is aware of this. “It’s a real test for me,” he says. “But I can grow from it.”
That’s not wrong. And still only half the truth. Because no matter how the mood turns out: Graber will be permanently present on the national stage in the coming months. He is already one of the winners today.
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.
