Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis thwarted: How the unions hijack the European file

How you judge the unions’ recent progress depends on how you read it. One thing is certain: you stole the show from Ignazio Cassis (62).

Wednesday should actually have been the Secretary of State’s Day. Things turned out differently. Already on Monday, the Federation of Trade Unions and Travailsuisse, the concentrated Swiss employee representatives, issued a stark press release. Use the usual fighting vocabulary: avoid relegation! Safe public services! Wage protection!

The reason was a small glimmer of hope in the European dossier. The Federal Council decided to issue the negotiating mandate for rapprochement with Brussels. A ray of hope for the head of the EDA, an important, albeit small, stage victory before the Federal Council elections on December 13.

The liberal magistrate wants to curb any resistance as early as possible and has therefore always kept the social partners, i.e. employers and trade unions, and party leaders, the so-called sounding board group, informed in a confidential manner.

The trade union federation did not last

Same this time. But the trade union federation and Travailsuisse broke the agreement and went public on Monday. In doing so, they informed the nation of the good news of Cassis before the responsible Federal Council announced it two days later.

The unions have thus seized the power of interpretation. Again. The SGB and Travailsuisse said in the communiqué that they were “very concerned” about the “progress of discussions” with the European Commission. The workers’ representatives complain that the “project of an institutional agreement” has become a “liberalization program”. The energy market and transport, among other things, are affected. From the left’s perspective, this is a regulatory disaster.

No one disputes the social and historical importance of unions. Yet there is great anger within the federal government about the muscle-flexing of SGB president Pierre-Yves Maillard (55) and his comrades. Anyone who listens to the pro-European camp will hear more negative voices about Cassis – the Ticino native once again appears to be ‘weak in leadership’, says an FDP national councilor; He is “not a leader,” says a party member mockingly. The impression is that fear of the unions predominates in his department.

Cassis was ostracized not only in front of, but also behind the scenes. According to research by SonntagsBlick, the FDFA actually intended to publish a much more detailed text, which would have given more weight to what had been achieved in Brussels.

The week before, however, there was a tug-of-war over every word, with the SP federal council members Alain Berset (51) and Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (59) with the help of their SVP colleagues Guy Parmelin (64) and Albert Rösti (56) – the findings of the electricity agreement were overestimated anyway – had slowed down Cassis.

For example, the original version stated that the open questions between Bern and Brussels could have been clarified through exploratory discussions. Instead, it was only announced on Wednesday that “a majority of the questions” could have been satisfactorily clarified. The devil is in the details.

Surprising timing

In the EU-friendly camp, the timing at Cassis is particularly surprising. The bow for Maillard and Co. comes at a time when the political standing of the unions could actually be tested. During the last term, their power play worked – together with the right-wing bourgeois camp, they successfully opposed an agreement with Brussels. The trade union wing pushed the Social Democrats ahead and blocked both the SP party leadership and their own federal councilors, meaning that the framework agreement was finally successfully negotiated in the spring of 2021.

There was never even the slightest indication among the population that the agreement was so often criticized; on the contrary: the few available surveys always showed support for an institutional solution with Brussels.

In the spring of 2021, a survey commissioned by the Interpharma trade association showed that 64 percent of voters would like an institutional agreement. But the vote never took place: on May 26, the Federal Council buried the “Framework Agreement 1.0” without ever consulting the population.

Missed opportunity

Today, two and a half years later and with a freshly elected parliament, the potential for change would be there: the so-called momentum in the new legislation would not lie with the unions, but with their opponents: the long-time SGB president and majority maker Paul Rechsteiner (71) is no longer in the Council of States, Unia team Corrado Pardini (58) has not been there for four years, Travailsuisse president Adrian Wüthrich (43) has just missed entry to the National Council, the green VPOD President Katharina Prelicz-Huber (64) had to worry about her re-election. Not to mention the fight against the declining membership of the organizations

The newly elected Vaud State Councilor Maillard is the last real alpha animal of the unions under the dome of the Federal Palace. What makes it more difficult for his camp is that with the five candidates for the Federal Council and the SP candidate, a European political pragmatist – some would say: a Euroturbo – will follow the Freiburg dogmatist Alain Berset (51). Therefore the cards are shuffled again.

None of this stopped Cassis from joining the unions. With the strange result that the federal government is giving the unions a say in the negotiations on an electricity agreement. In official German it is called: “The Uvek has been instructed, together with the WBF and the EDA, to hold discussions with the electricity sector, the cantons and the social partners about internal implementation measures in connection with an electricity agreement. ”

It is not entirely clear what the energy policy competence of the employee representatives, who should actually stand up for the rights of Büezers, is based on. What is certain is that Cassis gives his opponents a valuable asset. And it angers business circles pushing for an electricity and land transport deal. When it comes to the top of the EDA, the “Cabinet of Dr. Larifari” the speech.

150 francs per year

According to calculations by the economic umbrella organization Economiesuisse, the failure of an electricity treaty with the EU would mean a loss of purchasing power of 150 francs per year for every Swiss household. Economiesuisse president Christoph Mäder (64) explains to SonntagsBlick: “The unions are torpedoing an agreement with the EU. They accept that the population will pay more for electricity and that the electricity grid will be at risk.” It is ‘incomprehensible’, Mäder continued, ‘that they are now being offered a special platform in the electricity treaty.’

The FDP national councilor of Zurich and Cassis confidante Hans-Peter Portmann (60) will chair the Foreign Policy Commission (APK) in the new legislature. Out of concern about the Framework Agreement 2.0, he goes even further: he threatens to disempower the employee representatives. “Parliament will have to break the monopoly position of the unions and implement reforms towards a truly liberal social partnership,” he said in an interview with SonntagsBlick. He wants to submit the subject to the APK on Monday.

Which doesn’t make the situation any easier for Cassis.