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One would have thought that Switzerland was on the brink of a coup if the comments of individual constitutional lawyers and “concerned citizens” were read in recent days.
No enabling law
A comparison with the Nazi Enabling Act was even sought. Did our state government enjoy power so much during the crown crisis that it now wants to massively gain more powers with the Covid Act, so to speak beforehand? After a very factual debate in the National Council, things are not so wild.
It can even be seen the other way around: not the Federal Council, but the parliament, the cantons and the social partners, even the associations of cities and municipalities, will receive more power in the pandemic. In accordance with the will of the National Council, the law will establish that the Federal Council must include them all if it wants to impose new measures to combat pandemics in the event that the situation worsens in the coming months.
The Federal Council was corrected
The process of creating this law also shows that parliamentary scrutiny works. After the SP, FDP and SVP rejected the first proposal of the Federal Council with strong criticism in the consultation process, the state government eliminated the most sensitive points on its own initiative. The Covid Law, for example, only applies until the end of 2021 and not until 2022. And the Federal Council itself suggested that the cantons be included in case new measures were necessary.
It can also be asked: what would be the alternative to such a law in this particular situation? The alternative would be that the Federal Council would have to resort to the emergency law based on the Federal Constitution. And, in theory, you can always do it if you consider it necessary, not including the parliament and the cantons.
However, with the Covid Law, the threshold will now be significantly higher. The state government will no longer resort to emergency law as quickly, as it did for three months during the peak of the pandemic. Above all, the Federal Council will no longer be able to adopt the emergency law without having spoken with the parliamentary committees, the cantons, the social partners and other important stakeholders in the country.
Problematic link
However, it is a shame that the Federal Council has regulated its powers and also financial aid to those affected by the crown in the same law.
For opponents who wanted to reject the law due to political concerns, this became an almost insurmountable dilemma. One would not have meant that aid to the hundreds of thousands of affected people in the country was cut.
Help more important than political concerns
At the end of the day, almost no member of parliament wanted to expose himself to the charge that he had pulled the rug from under people’s feet for reasons of state policy. Especially since the FDP and the SVP have reconsidered today: it is no longer enough to talk about personal responsibility and not support more aid. Many entrepreneurs in “forgotten” industries simply need money to survive. The majority of the bourgeoisie, therefore, also supports regulations on difficult living conditions for showmen, travel agencies or organizers.
Andy Müller
SRF Bundeshaus Editor
