Ex-minister called to help steer Swiss Red Cross out of crisis

Will Simonetta Sommaruga be the next president of the Swiss Red Cross? Keystone / Marcel Bieri

Former minister Simonetta Sommaruga is being called to head the crisis-hit Swiss Red Cross and has shown interest, reports the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper.

The paper says “influential circles in the field of politics and humanitarian aid are courting her” to head the charity and help steer it out of crisis.

The Swiss Red Cross (SRC), which is Switzerland’s biggest charity (not to be confused with the International Committee of the Red Cross), is in search of a new leader after its president Barbara Schmid-Federer resigned on Friday following a damning report. Schmid-Federer’s leadership style was taken apart by the independent report into the dismissal of SRC Director Markus Mader in December.

This led to the resignations of four members of the Red Cross Council that oversees the SRC. According to media reports, the leadership spat has resulted in a drop in donations to the SRC, with some major donors suspending their support until the problems are resolved.

Informal exploratory talks have been held with Sommaruga, sources confirmed to the NZZ am Sonntag, and she is said to have shown an interest. Sommaruga was a long-standing Social Democrat minister who stepped down at the end of last year.

“Having a former cabinet minister as president would be a very positive sign,” politician and head of an SRC organisation Philipp Matthias Bregy told the newspaper.