Swiss president: Vance speech a ‘plea for direct democracy’

Keller-Sutter: Vance speech a "plea for direct democracy" Keystone-SDA

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter has described US Vice President JD Vance’s speech at the Security Conference in Munich as a “plea for direct democracy”. She shares many of the values mentioned by Vance, said the politician from the centre-right Radical-Liberal party.

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In doing so, she went against the indignant reactions of many other European heads of state and government. In the interview published in the French-language daily newspaper Le Temps on Saturday, Keller-Sutter stated that Vance had spoken about “liberal values” that must be defended.

These included values “such as freedom and the opportunity for the people to express their opinions. It was a plea for direct democracy. That’s how you can read it,” she told the newspaper.

In this respect, Vance’s comments were “in a certain sense very Swiss,” said Keller-Sutter. 

Vance also expressed the view that not only should other opinions be listened to, but also that they should be allowed to be expressed. Vance had stated on Friday that freedom of expression was dwindling in Europe. This worries him more than the threat from China and Russia.

During his speech in Munich, Vance attacked internal decisions by European countries, particularly Germany.

He said that “firewalls” such as those erected against the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party are unjustified.

Other parties push back

The Green Party in Switzerland objected to Keller-Sutter’s statements: “No, Madam President,” they wrote in a press release. The speech by the US Vice President did not correspond to the values ​​and institutions of Switzerland. Expressing such appreciation for JD Vance’s speech was “not worthy of Switzerland,” the Greens stated.

Parliamentarian Corina Gredig from the Liberal Green party wrote on the platform X that it was “absurd” to describe the speech as liberal.

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Adapted from German by DeepL/jdp

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