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The sewing box should also remain at home during these times. Instead, we reached personalities in the region by phone: “Radio contact” is the new title, guaranteed without risk of infection.
Mr. Nussbaumer, where can we contact you?
Eric Nussbaumer: I am at home in Liestal in the home office. I returned from Bern on Wednesday night at 9 p.m.
How was the crown session for you in the last days?
The last days have been very similar to my daily political life before the crisis. This includes traveling to Bern and attending meetings there. We haven’t had that for several weeks, so this week was almost like a return to everyday life, I can’t call it, but maybe an everyday pandemic. A first step towards normality.
How was this session of Parliament different from previous sessions?
The biggest difference was the new location and the new facilities. Everything is much bigger, the distances are wider. Politics also lives on a short and intense conversation, which could not be practiced this week. We had to make sure we kept two meters apart, so the brief discussion with party colleagues was more demanding. You still have to get used to how you can have constructive, quick and commitment-seeking conversations while observing the rules of hygiene and social distancing.
Meanwhile, the debate on Twitter is still alive. This week he participated in the debate on whether free churches are systemically important.
That was not the point. It was difficult for someone to write that a free church in the region was responsible for the spread of the virus. I find it very difficult to assign the pandemic to a group of people and turn it into a scapegoat. If you understand a bit of history, you know it’s wrong to blame a group if something goes wrong. I’m allergic to it, that’s why I reacted. In the end, however, we were able to agree that free churches are not systemically important.
Back in Bern: the media has reported on an illegal party near Parliament in recent days. Were you there too?
So, I’m not part of the party generation (laughs). No, it was definitely not a party. After the long session, we meet for a drink in the restaurant, where we also take care of ourselves. I was there too. I spoke to three people and we remember every five minutes staying two meters apart. I can’t tell if others were only a meter away. But a party looks different in my opinion.
How well could the rules be followed during the session?
The locations were ideal for this. But it is similar to everyday life. You should keep your distance when you are queuing for the sandwich or after the session while waiting for the trolley or maybe you are taking the next trolley. All the questions that people often have in everyday life simply go into everyday political life.
What ideas do you hope to obtain from this crisis for politics?
I hope you can learn from each crisis, as well as from individual ones, and see that sometimes you have to change something. But I don’t think the big change in social life is coming. But the experience that we need a good social welfare system and that it is important that the state can intervene so that people can go through life without fear, these are surely the findings that this crisis has shown. Also, that should stop saying all the time, the market regulates everything. In my experience, crisis management is more of a good social safety net that makes life easier. If we could take that to the post-crisis period, it would be good.
Now you are back home. How does daily life continue in the pandemic?
In my home office, I handle many political affairs differently than before. Today I had a conference call about a political business, followed by a video conference on the Brexit issue, in the afternoon I have another conference call. But that is just right now. Now it is a matter of gradually and slowly approaching the relaxation of the daily pandemic.
What is the next important step for you?
On Wednesday, almost all the cantons in northwestern Switzerland commented on this: the gradual opening of the borders. We of the Foreign Policy Commission have tabled a motion. It is difficult to wait until southern Italy is completely virus free before crossing the border into Weil again in Basel. There simply has to be another solution: regional decision-making powers must also be granted so that the free movement of people can be restored as soon as possible.
