The Grenchner SVP politician fights for a secure power supply – through nuclear re-entry.
Vanessa Meury’s face should be seen more often.
Vanessa Meury is 25 years old, President of the young SVP in the canton of Solothurn. And she is committed to nuclear energy, a politically cursed form of electricity production that seems to have seen better days in this country.
This rare profile alone makes her an exception in the Swiss political landscape. If the WWF weren’t concerned with wildlife but with politicians, it would have to put Meury under species protection.
It is the impending electricity crisis that is now increasingly bringing the Grenchen native into the conversation and into the national headlines. “Now the nuclear power plant initiative is coming,” was the headline in the “Sonntags-Zeitung”.
Vanessa Meury chairs the initiative committee, which began collecting signatures on Tuesday. The proposal should be submitted by next spring. It is called: “Electricity for everyone at all times (stop blackout)”.
“Energy policy is always long-term”
“Energy is scarce – let’s not waste it” is the name of the savings campaign that Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga also launched this week. Meury and her colleagues deliver the promising contrast to the bad news from the energy department. “The current situation with the threatening scenarios is of course unpleasant,” she says, “but now is exactly the right time for our initiative.”
Vanessa Meury is a trained real estate manager with a higher business diploma. She heads a department at a large property management company in the Bern region. In 2019 she took over the presidency of the Swiss Energy Club, a kind of catchment area for losers in the energy strategy vote. Meury is the “poster girl” of the financially strong nuclear lobby, whispers in Bundesbern – as if the parliamentarians all came up with the ideas for their initiatives on their own.
The talent is still at the beginning of the political career ladder. Her biggest electoral success was the first place in last year’s cantonal elections. For the national elections in 2023, she is hoping for a place on the SVP Solothurn list. Its President and National Councilor Christian Imark says: “Meury shares the line and the values of the party and also tries to bundle forces in the middle-class camp.” She is on the right track. It could be a long one.
“Energy policy is always long-term policy,” says Meury, responding to the objection that it will take forever for a new nuclear power plant to be built – even if its construction is still allowed. With the initiative, she wants to lift the technology ban that voters decided in 2017. “I want people in this country to talk openly about a secure power supply again.”
Long sentences, concise messages
She has nothing against renewables, but wind and solar energy are not enough to meet the basic electricity needs that society and the economy need day and night and all year round. The left and parts of the political center would still cling to the illusions of the time. “These days make it clear: the energy strategy has failed.”
The 25-year-old speaks like an established politician. Her sentences are long enough to do justice to the complexity of the topic and short enough to get her message across to the fast-paced channels. She got into politics “to do something herself instead of just whining”.
She certifies that the energy minister has good intentions to sensitize people to electricity consumption. But the official savings tips triggered negative feelings in her. “The Federal Council treats the population like small children.”