The three SP candidates for the Federal Council presented themselves to their base for the first time on Monday. They tried to score with decidedly left-wing positions.
Arms crossed twice, arms hanging once: SP candidates Eva Herzog, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and Evi Allemann.
Some people surreptitiously looked around to see if Daniel Jositsch would show up as an uninvited guest at the Lucerne Kulturhaus Neubad at the last moment. But as planned, only Evi Allemann, Eva Herzog and Elisabeth Baume-Schneider attended the first public hearing for the SP base. This is just seven hours after the official application deadline for the Bundesrat seat had expired.
Swimming pool instead of shark pool
Unlike the SVP, the SP uses the opportunity to advertise itself with the personal spectacle. The party, which has been badly battered in various elections, is presenting its three candidates in a roadshow across the country. A successful concept, as the large crowd of media representatives and around 200 spectators showed.
The setting for the first hearing was quite original. The three politicians who are fighting for the two places on the ticket did not have to climb into a shark tank for their performance. But the stage was in a former municipal indoor swimming pool. However, none of the three politicians, who are “the most competent trio of candidates that has ever been available for selection”, has gotten lost, as SP co-president Cédric Wermuth explained at the beginning of the event, as usual immodest.
The moderator David Roth, SP vice president and ex-Juso boss, first addressed the candidates to the high inflation and the only slowly rising wages. Eva Herzog wants to specifically relieve people who are suffering from the loss of purchasing power and expand the excellent premium reduction system as a channel. “Above all, employers have to compensate for inflation,” she appealed to the social partners.
Baume-Schneider regretted that the Council of States had become less progressive and more conservative than the National Council in recent years. “I fear that it will be more difficult to get relief in the small chamber than in the National Council,” said the Jura. For Allemann, good cooperation between municipalities, cantons and the federal government is required. “It’s not just the health insurance premiums, but also the rental costs that need to be reduced. The offer by cooperatives must be spread, »said the Bernese government councillor.
There is agreement among the candidates on climate and environmental issues. Baume-Schneider emphasized that as environment minister she would continue like Simonetta Sommaruga and put more money into renewable energies. Switzerland is no longer allowed to refer to foreign countries and must do everything it can to achieve the goal of 1.5 degrees.
The rejection of the CO2-law is a catastrophe that cannot be blamed on Sommaruga, said Herzog. You don’t have to take a new direction, but perhaps pay back incentive taxes integrally. Allemann promised that if she took over the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (UVEK), she would continue to expand alternative energies as quickly as possible, both in hydropower and in alpine solar systems, and referred to the experience in the canton of Bern.
Herzog named the introduction of individual taxation as a central instrument for achieving equality. Allemann referred to her success in promoting the proportion of part-time work up to the highest management levels in the canton of Bern. Allemann wants to take up the failed template for equal pay again. Baume-Schneider sees the day care center initiative as an important lever to accelerate gender equality from the bottom up. All three candidates emphasized that they want to continue the work of the outgoing Federal Councilor.
Eva Herzog has the most respect for how many people are affected by the decisions of the members of the Federal Council. With Evi Allemann, it is the responsibility that one has as a decision-maker and the additional focus of the public that weighs on a member of the state government. For Elisabeth Baume-Schneider it is crucial to have respect for democracy.
Baume-Schneider emphasized that it wouldn’t work without Europe, when asked about the sluggish talks with the EU. But the framework conditions for wage protection must be preserved. She sees an urgent need for action in the field of research, where Switzerland is being left behind. For Herzog, a solution with Europe is needed as quickly as possible. Nobody believes that there are better solutions than those anchored in the framework agreement. As a Federal Councilor, it would be an absolute priority for her to find a solution here, stressed Herzog. It is important to work at full speed on an institutional framework agreement. Joining the EEA or the EU is only the second or third best solution.
Both Baume-Schneider and Allemann called for the extension of protection status S to be extended to refugees who do not come from Ukraine.
tight race
There was no clear winner at this first hearing. Almost more important: None of the candidates made a slip either. In their positions on important issues, the two councilors and the Bernese government councilor differed only in nuances. Evi Allemann primarily tried to score points with her current government experience. Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, who had the hardest time in front of the urban audience, convinced with her charm and unconventional formulations. Eva Herzog was able to use her experience and successful politicizing from a minority position.
Further public hearings will take place in Lausanne, Zurich and Liestal in the coming days. On November 26, the SP parliamentary group will determine the two-ticket. In this march, and especially in the hearings of the other parties, a sharper wind will blow in the faces of the candidates.