Newly elected and already a target for Swiss lobbyists

A lobbyist makes a phone call in the lobby of the House of Representatives. © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

The federal elections brought 54 newcomers to the Swiss parliament. They are politically experienced and have mastered election campaigns. But what happens when the lobbyists come calling?

Swiss politician Felix Wettstein has a special hobby: he has been observing lobbying in parliament since his first day as a parliamentarian. The Green Party politician regularly describes how he is lobbied on a daily basis on his blog.

The project came about after his election in 2019, when he realised how fiercely everyone was suddenly courting him. He logged 229 approaches from interest groups in the first two months alone.

The pressure is high

Today, Wettstein sees lobbying as part of the system. “I have nothing against it, but it must be disclosed,” he says. “We shouldn’t be under the illusion that we form our opinions without outside influence.”

The bold cliché of lobbying persists: conspiratorial meetings in back rooms where opaque figures push their agenda on MPs, garnished with favours of all kinds. “These clichéd images are not true,” says Wettstein.
 

Felix Wettstein from the Green Party. © Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

What is true, however, is that the pressure from interest groups on the Swiss parliament is high. The healthcare sector is the most active and influential.

Behind it is a gigantic CHF80 billion market that is politically regulated and largely financed by compulsory health insurance or the public purse. Parliament, where the health sector is regulated, is where everything comes together.

The power of CHF80 billion

Lobbying pressure also arises because various players are fighting within it: the pharmaceutical industry, health insurers, hospitals, medical and nursing associations, and then the cantons. All want to get the best for themselves. And they are all equipped with powerfully organised public affairs departments.

The financial market, i.e. the banking and insurance sector, is also strong in lobbying. It is a €70 billion market that is subject to strict regulations, which people want to influence.

The influence of business umbrella organisations is on a par with the financial market. The tourism industry, construction industry, trade unions and environmental organisations are also powerful and active.

Massive attempts at outreach

Newly elected parliamentarians experience the first attempts at lobbying on election day with congratulatory letters. Many are sent by email.

If there is a lot of interest involved, there is potential for more: a letter by post, written by hand, a gift by post, a phone call afterwards. At the end of the year, the next outreach wave follows: Christmas wishes, accompanied by your own wishes.

“The flood is insane,” says Nina Fehr-Düsel from the Swiss People’s Party, who was newly elected to Bern in October. She has resolved to start as free of influences as possible.

“Independence is very important to me to start with,” she says, “But I’m not ruling out the possibility of taking on an office or membership one day”. The decisive factor will be her personal affinity or thematic interest.
 

Nina Fehr-Düsel, new member of parliament for the Swiss People’s Party. © Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

Fehr-Düsel is one of the few parliamentarians free of vested interests. This is a matter of public record. All 246 members of the Swiss parliament have to declare which organisations they work for or affiliated to and who pays them. This creates a certain degree of transparency.

The current lists of vested interests (House of Representatives) reveal this: Most representatives of the people have fewer than a dozen mandates, and the majority of these mandates are unpaid. However, a handful of parliamentarians are linked to over 25 organisations.

Peter Schilliger, of the Liberal-Radical Party, is the top collector of extra posts. The election slogan on his website reads: “For you in the House of Representatives” but at the same time, according to the list of vested interests, he holds 27 mandates, 21 of which are paid. 

But what is the point of such a list? The anti-corruption organisation Transparency International criticises the fact that in Switzerland the flow of money for paid mandates nevertheless remains in the dark and that this register is only based on self-declaration.

The lobbying rules in Swiss politics are “rudimentary”. The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) also regularly calls for Swiss parliamentarians to finally declare how much they earn from their additional income.
 

Lobbyists and guests in the lobby of the Swiss parliament. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Another lobbying list of the Swiss parliament registers the personal access authorisations (House of Representatives) to the parliament. Each member of parliament is allowed to grant access to two people.  

This guest access is intended for personal staff or confidants. Very often, however, the otherwise strictly limited access to the halls of decision-making is granted to lobbyists.

There is no fundamental criticism of this. However, Transparency International criticises the fact that there is no transparency about lobbyists accredited in this way. Who they serve and what they want remains opaque.

Lobbyists want to enter the parliament

Newly elected members quickly realise how coveted the access badges are. Social Democrat parliamentarian Hasan Candan reports five to six requests before the first session has even begun.  

He has not yet been awarded a badge. “It depends on the committee I end up on,” he says. Candan is also one of the very few without any trace of a vested interest.

He wants to award his access badges in a way that benefits him in his work on his topics. He is interested in support with complex dossiers and well-prepared information, he says, because: “Knowledge is influence.”
 

Hasan Candan, new member of parliament for the Social Democrats. © Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

From politician to lobbyist

The path to becoming an influencer in parliament has already been paved for the 54 novice parliamentarians. First, they have their specialisation, their personal affinity for a particular topic, followed by in-depth dossier work.

If a political issue from this area then comes before the councils, they use their network and sometimes work with political opponents to find majorities in favour of their interests.

This is lobbying in its purest form. “The most powerful lobbyists? They are the parliamentarians,” swissinfo.ch wrote years ago. Lobbying observer Wettstein agrees.

“There are those who fulfil their mandate as lobbyists,” he says. “Many of us are. And that’s okay as long as it’s transparent.”

Nevertheless, there is a problematic side to it. Lobby parliamentarians mainly congregate in the influential committees that prepare parliamentary business.  

They wear two hats, one as a representative of the people and one of their client.

Consequence of the militia system

Some see this as an inevitable collateral effect of a militia parliament, others see it as a form of venality. For many, it is disturbing.

After all, committee work is an operation on the open heart of democracy, so outside influence is quickly perceived as contaminating.  

Lobbying is unstoppable

This led to a remarkable demand: anyone sitting on a committee should no longer be allowed to accept paid mandates. At least not from organisations that are affected by the work of this committee, demanded senator Beat Rieder of the Centre Party in 2019.

This idea was well received far and wide in parliament. Because many people notice: Commission members in particular are snapping up board mandates at insurance companies, health insurance funds or banks as soon as they join.  

“When you see what is paid there, it’s clear that you’re entering the grey area of corruption,” said an Liberal-Radical Party senator during the debate on Rieder’s proposal. The idea was nevertheless scuppered in 2022. The tenor of the debate was that a militia parliament requires free members of parliament.

Two hats

As a result, 90 of the 246 members of parliament were in the service of companies from the healthcare sector at the end of the last legislature. And so it starts all over again.  

“Now the members of the Health Committee are being appointed,” says Samira Marti, “And a few months later, the majority of the centre-right members of parliament will be sitting on the board of directors of a health insurance company.” Marti is co-leader of the Social Democrats’ parliamentary group.
 

Social Democrat politician Samira Marti is an exception when it comes to vested interests. © Keystone / Alessandro Della Valle

And she is the only parliamentarian who is already in her second parliamentary term and still plays politics without any declarable vested interests. She doesn’t need them, she says: “My network is strong enough and my doors are open to everyone.”

The organisation Lobbywatch meticulously documents vested interests in Swiss parliament and regularly exposes the mechanisms of the lobbying industry. Journalist Thomas Angeli, who heads the project, says: “More and more politicians see their parliamentary mandate as a business model to obtain lucrative posts.”

The question remains: does the Swiss parliament still decide freely? According to lobbying observer Felix, recommendations sent out by lobbies rarely create new majorities. “As a parliamentarian, you tend to follow the guidelines of your party”, he says, “Or you follow the recommendations of your party colleagues from the preliminary consultative committees.”

But these are the committees where the colleagues wearing the two hats sit.