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The two candidates have great similarities – but their roots could not be more different.
Eva Herzog and Elisabeth Baume-Schneider have a lot in common. Both are about the same age and celebrate their birthdays on Christmas: Baume-Schneider will be 59 on Christmas Eve, and Herzog will be 61 the next day. Both also have two adult sons. And both have practically the same political career behind them: cantonal parliament, government council and now together in the Council of States, to which they were both elected in December 2019.
Les Breuleux versus Kleinbasel
And yet there is a big contrast: their origin and thus the difference between town and country, which could hardly be greater. On the one hand, the farmer’s daughter Elisabeth Baume-Schneider from the small village of Les Breuleux in the Jura. On the other hand, the urbane Eva Herzog. She has an office in Kleinbasel, a multi-cultural world, and as finance director she championed the pharmaceutical companies that bring prosperity to the city – and to Switzerland.
The choice between one of the two SP candidates for the Federal Council is therefore also a choice between a rural or urban representation in the Federal Council. However, urban Switzerland is hardly represented in the Federal Council. That’s why it’s clear to Eva Herzog: “If I look at the composition of the Federal Council, then representation from urban areas would be a good addition.”
Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, however, counters: “I’m an alternative.” She is convinced that it is just as important for peripheral regions such as the Jura to be represented in the Federal Council. Overall, there needs to be a balance in federal Bern.
Does the language matter?
From a financial point of view, the difference between the two cantons is huge: Basel-Stadt is the second largest economic region in Switzerland and is one of the seven donor cantons. The Jura, on the other hand, is one of the poorest cantons in Switzerland and, as a recipient canton, benefits from the economic power of Basel when it comes to financial equalization.
But in addition to the urban-rural difference, there is also the language-regional difference: If Elisabeth Baume-Schneider were elected, Latin Switzerland would be represented by a majority in the Federal Council for the first time since 1920. “That would be different, but it wouldn’t be terrible or dangerous either,” says Baume-Schneider. The Federal Constitution clearly states that there is a balance. “But it’s not mathematically predetermined that it has to be like this. But it is also a protection of the minorities. And I’m a minority.”
Eva Herzog sees it differently: “For me, appropriate representation of the regions in the Federal Council means that the next time a Romandy seat becomes vacant, it has to be filled by someone from Latin Switzerland.” Does that mean that it’s now the turn of German-speaking Switzerland? “You can see it that way, yes,” replies Herzog.
Both cantons have been waiting for a long time
In any case, it would be a big deal for both cantons. The Jura has never had a representation since it was founded in 1979. And Basel-Stadt has now been waiting for around 50 years – since SP Federal Councilor Hans-Peter Tschudi resigned at the end of 1973.
So it’s also about fundamentals: Should the Jura be represented in the Federal Council for the first time with Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and such a rural canton, with which Latin Switzerland then also gets the majority? Or will the Federal Assembly choose Eva Herzog and thus an urban representative from a rich German-speaking canton?