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After his appeal on Friday, Federal Councilor Alain Berset got serious over the weekend. As reported by various Sunday newspapers, videoconferences were held on Saturday between federal councilors Alain Berset and Simonetta Sommaruga with several German-speaking cantons.
On Friday, Berset demanded that cantons with a rapidly increasing number of cases urgently need to take stricter measures against the pandemic. The Federal Council hopes that the cantons of Aargau, Basel-Country, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Appenzell-Ausserrhoden and Ticino will take further action.
The term is short. The Federal Council will meet on Tuesday. Until then, Berset expects at least declarations of intent from the cantons in question, writes SonntagsBlick. Berset puts the knife to the neck of the cantons. His message: If a canton does not decide on measures against the high numbers of the Crown, the Federal Council will force them to do so.
It is not yet clear how many cantons will comply with Berset’s demands. Lukas Engelberger, Switzerland’s top health director, told SRF that he assumed the cantons will tighten their measures next week.
The first concessions come from St. Gallen and Thurgau. St. Gallen health director Bruno Damann told SRF that they had seen the problem and had tightened the measures anyway. Thurgau health director Urs Martin also told NZZ on Sunday that new measures would be announced earlier in the week.
Aargau: the governing council meeting is not scheduled until Wednesday
No further measures are expected from the canton of Aargau before Wednesday. Only then will the next ordinary meeting of the full governing council take place. So far there is no indication of an extraordinary meeting on Monday or Tuesday. Until then, talks between the cantons in question will be in full swing to discuss any adjustments to the crown’s measures.
It is unclear whether the Aargau governing council will issue a declaration of intent on Tuesday due to pressure from Berne, as requested by Berset. Health director Jean-Pierre Gallati declined to comment on the current situation at Sunday’s request.
In a joint interview with Lörrach district administrator Marion Dammann, who will appear on AZ Monday, Gallati says: If you want uniform measures, you must ask yourself whether the Federal Council should not re-declare the “extraordinary situation”; then the Federal Council would once again take over the entire fight against the pandemic.
In any case, the district administrator Dammann, who governs the district of Lörrach, which borders Aargau, would like more uniform measures between Germany and Switzerland. At the Upper Rhine Commission, which he will preside until the end of the year, he strives to find joint solutions with the Swiss border cantons.
Closing the border again as in spring is not currently under discussion. But Dammann warns: “If the measures in Switzerland and Germany become too different, it will be difficult.”
