Why Ignazio Cassis keeps getting beat up “Irreconcilable differences”: Ruedi Noser’s son leaves the FDP

You are not used to emotional performances by Ignazio Cassis. However, in September the chief diplomat’s collar burst. During an FDP event in Ticino, the 62-year-old got rid of the frustration. He insulted climate glue as ‘criminal’ and criticized the SVP and SP, who are responsible for the polarization in Switzerland.

Finally, Cassis attacked the media: ‘I don’t read newspapers anymore. They are not good for me.” The communications department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured him that the most important texts would be presented to him every day. Still, his anger was somewhat understandable. No Federal Councilor is as constantly criticized as the liberals from Ticino.

Somehow, Cassis can’t please anyone. The outgoing Minister of Health Alain Berset (SP) may be polarizing, but according to the September SRG election barometer he would have by far the greatest influence in the government, and his popularity ratings are also high. Ignazio Cassis, on the other hand, is far behind in terms of influence and sympathy.

Bad communication

This finding is not new. Since the former FDP faction leader was elected as successor to the unfortunate Didier Burkhalter in September 2017, he has been viewed with skepticism. He was consistently at the bottom of the Bundesrat rankings. This may be due to his rather fragile demeanor for a “Latin” person, but also to his poor communication.

He gave the latest example after the Federal Council meeting last Wednesday. Switzerland had supported a resolution in the UN General Assembly that, among other things, called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, but neither condemned Hamas’ terror nor called for the immediate release of the Israeli hostages.

Why no abstinence?

Israel called the resolution a “disgrace.” The Swiss representative regretted that no condemnation of the Hamas attacks had been included, Cassis emphasized to the media. At the same time, he defended the yes vote: as depositary of the Geneva Conventions, Switzerland could hardly have spoken out against such a resolution.

However, Switzerland, like Germany or Italy, could have abstained. This was not the first time that bourgeois politicians accused Cassis of weak leadership. He cannot control the ideologically influenced EDA. The left, in turn, regrets the suspension of payments to Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organizations.

Voting out is no problem

Once again Ignazio Cassis seems unable to please anyone. Lucerne SVP National Councilor Franz Grütter, chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee until the end of the month, called on the former canton doctor of Ticino to move to the Interior Department in the “SonntagsZeitung”. It would “certainly be a liberation” for Cassis.

That’s nicely said, but it amounts to a ‘penal transfer’. The SVP will not vote him out in the general elections on December 13. Despite widespread discontent, Cassis has little else to fear. Even the SP is hesitant to support the Greens’ attack on an FDP seat. She does not want to take any risks with the replacement elections in Berset.

Sand instead of oil in the gearbox

The Minister of Foreign Affairs also owes his role as whipping boy to his handling of the European file, probably the most important in his department. He started working on it with enthusiasm. People remember his hundred-day media conference in Lugano, when he used building blocks to illustrate the importance of the institutional agreement with the EU.

In front of the media, he described it as “oil in the gears” of bilateralism. Then he himself threw sand into this equipment. In an interview with Radio SRF, he indicated concessions in the accompanying measures to protect against wage dumping. The EU and Switzerland must be prepared to “leap over their own shadows and find creative ways”.

Abandonment in the EU file

The unions were furious because the Federal Council had so far defined wage protection as a “red line”. When the text of the framework agreement became available in November 2018, almost no one in the entire Federal Council could accept it. The Minister of Foreign Affairs only received support from Doris Leuthard (CVP) and later from her successor Viola Amherd.

Cassis’s enthusiasm had disappeared. The Ticino native seemed despondent when it came to European politics. He had to sacrifice Secretary of State Roberto Balzaretti, his closest confidante in Ticino. He would never really get along with his successor Livia Leu. In May 2021, the Federal Council declared that the framework agreement had failed without a plan B in place.

No change within a year

It was a committee decision, but the responsible department head did not give the impression that he was prepared to defend himself against this tabula rasa ‘solution’. The Green National Councilor Marionna Schlatter accused him in the “SonntagsZeitung” of a lack of courage, an assessment with which she is far from alone in Bern.

Since then, the relationship between Switzerland and the EU has been eroding, as critics feared. So should Ignazio Cassis move to the – also complicated – Internal Affairs department? There was one possibility at the end of last year, when Alain Berset made it very clear that he was looking for change after the stressful Corona years.

Restart in sight

But Cassis remained in the EDA. And now a new start with the EU is in sight. According to CH Media, the Federal Council wants to talk about starting negotiations as early as Wednesday. The aim is therefore to have a mandate text by the end of the year and to start negotiations in the spring of 2024. European politicians in parliament are confident that the Federal Council is serious.

It could be a motivation for Ignazio Cassis to continue. Or to use the new beginning for your own business. Given the difficult issues surrounding pension provision and healthcare policy, you should not expect this.