Federal councilors are silent

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What Ueli Maurer (72) did in the Chinese embassy obviously doesn’t work, that much is clear. “That’s why I don’t have to say anything about it,” explains a party chairman. On the contrary, he is glad that another SVP member has sought the proximity of an autocratic regime. “That should hurt the party in the elections. I should be okay.”

He does not want to be mentioned by name. And it is not only the party leaders who are tellingly silent about the visit of the former finance minister to the embassy. People around the incumbent Federal Councilors are also reluctant to say whether they take the old Federal Councilor to heart – or at least politely assure themselves that he has not made any promises on behalf of Switzerland.

Will a visit be a problem in the Bundesrat?

However, it cannot be ruled out that the full Bundesrat will address the embassy visit at its next meeting. The former colleague will not be publicly reprimanded either as on previous occasions. Ueli Maurer is just Ueli Maurer. He likes to provoke and always polarises.

If so, the initiative should come from the incumbent Federal President. But given his own business, Alain Berset (51) is currently the last government official who can point the finger at another magistrate – even though he has resigned.

Couchepin: “Daredevil”

Maurer receives partial support from other former federal councilors. They think it is not unusual for a former member of the Federal Council to still be involved in politics shortly after stepping down.

Pascal Couchepin (81, FDP) says he also maintains contacts with organizations he knows from his time with the national government. However, Couchepin calls Maurer’s visit “daring”. According to him, Maurer should have foreseen that the Chinese embassy would need the visit for its own PR. But he doesn’t want to blame his colleague for that.

Calmy-Rey has always informed the Federal Council

Former SP judge Micheline Calmy-Rey (77) also says she still receives invitations from official representatives, partly in her capacity as visiting professor at the University of Geneva. She takes the stand: “We are normal citizens – and today we do what we want.” After her discharge, she made several trips abroad and visited Kosovo, Azerbaijan and Armenia, among others. She also sometimes met ministers. But: “On such trips I always informed the foreign department in Bern of my own accord.” Maurer did not.

Relinquished or not: outwardly you radiate cohesion. And even the Chinese embassy says it maintains contacts with members of the government, businessmen and other people in Switzerland. Even if they resign. The meeting between Ambassador Wang Shihting and Ueli Mauer was “a normal one”. “We hope the media doesn’t overinterpret that,” the message said.

Source:Blick