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The SVP Federal Council is breaking new ground in terms of transparency. Since a newspaper report does not suit him, he subsequently lifts the veil on a co-report. If the example becomes fashionable, it can be cheerful.
The shadow of Ueli Maurer, photographed during a press conference.
You don’t even know him like that. Finance Minister Ueli Maurer, the “Mister Cool” of the Swiss government, is not so easily upset in normal times. Even during loaded parliamentary debates, he sits stoically calm at his sink and awaits your intervention. Challenging it is not easy. Even an expert on this subject, the SP National Councilor, Jacqueline Badran, had to take note of that. When she wanted to face him in a heated battle of words on the initiative of 99 percent of the Socialist Youth, Maurer made a declaration of love from his public heart (“We almost loved each other a little. Sometimes we work like an older couple.” )
So Maurer can take a lot. But now it is showing its worth. On Wednesday, the SVP magistrate ordered his department to immediately publish a “clarification” in response to an article in the Tamedia newspapers. The question was what role the Federal Council has played in recent weeks in talks on easing the crown measures. Someone had again pulled out a confidential document, according to which Maurer temporarily displayed a warning when the restaurants opened in early February, which does not quite fit his rhetoric, and certainly not his party’s.
Not even the commissions have knowledge
That was too much. Maurer didn’t want to leave this story in the room. Have angry landlords threatened to ban you from the house? Or the party with the withdrawal of love? Would that have bothered you? You don’t know. In any case, Maurer was quick to “make it clear” that at the crucial meeting of the Federal Council on February 24, he spoke in favor of a more rapid opening of the hospitality industry. As is known, in vain.
What’s interesting about the episode is a seemingly minor matter: this is probably the first time that a Federal Council has officially reported on a confidential report from a government meeting. Co-reports are among the most interesting documents from Federal Bern. These are the opinions with which the members of the Federal Council can influence the business of the other departments. You can request corrections, point out inconsistencies, request further clarification, or simply send a political signal. The documents are strictly confidential. Apart from special cases, not even parliamentary committees have access. This is to protect the opinion-forming of the collegiate government.
Indiscretions can also be intentional
In its clarification, the finance department now announces the content of Maurer’s report for the meeting at the end of February: it had demanded “the complete opening of the outdoor areas of the restaurants by March 1, 2021 and the interiors for on March 22, 2021 “. . The Federal Council decided otherwise. Maurer reveals inside information from his own secret documents – is he allowed to do that? It is not expected that the Federal Prosecutor’s Office will intervene, as has happened in other cases in which joint reports were made public. Maurer can assert extenuating circumstances; several media outlets, including NZZ, have already reported on their proposals.
And yet it matters whether journalists report on the basis of indiscretions what is “according to good sources” and “according to reports” in a joint report, or if the Federal Council itself provides information on the content. It will be interesting to see if the incident will lead to acts of copying. Will other members of the government also switch to retrospective creation of transparency about their applications? Or is it all just a side effect of the crown crisis? Will there be a vaccine against it one day? And will it also work with tough magistrates who only get vaccinated once?
