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“We are experiencing a crisis that has not existed in Swiss history since World War II.” With these words, Simonetta Sommaruga opened a special meeting of the Swiss parliament earlier this week. The Social Democratic Minister for the Environment and Transport also currently serves as Federal President, a mainly representative task that the seven members of the government (Federal Council) carry out from year to year.
“Let democracy really come alive again,” Sommaruga called to representatives of the large and small chamber of parliament, actually an outrageous appeal in a country that sees itself as a model country of democracy thanks to direct voice. of their citizens and their representatives generally do not give any encouragement. I need to work. But the corona virus and the fight against it not only undermined the Swiss economy, but also at least temporarily lived the practice of federal democracy.
The government is in charge
Since the Federal Council activated the sharpest stage of the epidemic law, the “extraordinary situation”, in mid-March, Switzerland has not only been in a state of emergency in terms of health policy, but also in a state of democracy . Since then, the country has been governed by the emergency law. This has also not happened since World War II. While the multi-party government in Bern generally functions more as an executive arm for the people and parliament, it now has the right to act.
The Federal Council has used its extensive exceptional powers to protect the population and severely restricted the exercise of fundamental rights, such as freedom of assembly. The shops, restaurants and leisure and cultural places had to close. A major national referendum was postponed. Even federalism, a holy cow in Switzerland, takes a break: the cantons have to dance according to the whistle of the Federal Council. In fact, they have done so in the past seven weeks, apart from some special regulations in regions particularly affected by the virus, such as Ticino.
The rare harmony quickly ended
The Federal Council explicitly exempted parliament from the ban on the assembly. However, the representatives of the people decided in mid-March to cancel the current period of the conference. What the leftist “Wochenzeitung” criticized as “parliament’s obsession with himself” was mainly due to fear of infection: on the walls of the Bernese parliament building, where people sit together, the rules of distance could not easily accomplished. Added to this was the rare agreement of the parties when evaluating the measures decided by the Federal Council: from left to right, politicians supported the abrupt closure of parts of the economy and the closure of borders.
