Greens want Swiss minister to surrender environment portfolio

Climate policy: Mazzone criticises Federal Councillor Rösti and calls for a plan Keystone-SDA

Green Party President Lisa Mazzone is calling for Environment Minister Albert Rösti to be stripped of his portfolio for failing to protect the population from the heatwave.

Under Rösti’s leadership, there have been setbacks in climate policy, the Green Party president said in the interview. “I am convinced that any other government minister would be better than Albert Rösti in this department.”

It isn’t even July yet, and already we are counting the victims of the heatwave, Mazzone said. She was referring to the extreme drought, the cries for help from farmers and the fish dying in rivers that have dropped too low. “We are in the midst of a crisis, and the Swiss government is on holiday,” she added.

Citing the hot summer and the drought, she accuses Rösti’ of ruining Switzerland’s climate policy. Mazzone called on the government to draw up a plan of measures, “such as greening initiatives, the refurbishment of buildings or genuine protection in the workplace”.

Mixed reactions

According to Tamedia, the Green Party leader is largely alone in making this demand. Even parties that are critical of Rösti’s climate and energy policy consider a change to be excessive, according to the newspapers. Social Democrat parliamentarian Hasan Candan, for example, stated that the tangible effects of climate change in Switzerland were a cause for concern. “We urgently need more and more effective measures, as well as additional investment, to tackle the climate crisis,” said Candan. This is because Rösti’s policies are not sustainable “and fail to adequately protect people and the environment”.

Green Liberal Party President Jürg Grossen agrees with some of Mazzone’s criticisms. He argues that the government is acting “far too hesitantly and too slowly” on climate policy. He cites the decarbonisation of transport as an example. However, he does not support Mazzone’s call for Rösti to step down from his department. How the Federal Council organises itself is a matter for the government. Yet, unlike other ministers, Rösti sometimes finds it difficult to set aside his party affiliations, Grossen told Tamedia: “As a member of the Federal Council, one must put party politics aside.”

Stefan Müller-Altermatt, a parliamentarian from the Centre Party, is also critical of Rösti’s energy and climate policy. However, he considers the call for a reshuffle of the environment portfolio to be excessive. Such attacks are the “raison d’être of the political parties”: the Greens are demanding that Rösti hand over the department, whilst his Swiss People’s Party is calling for the resignation of Beat Jans, the Social Democrat minister in charge of asylum policy. Müller-Altermatt sees this as a threat to the institution of the Federal Council. Personalised calls for resignation or dismissal weaken the government, rather than fostering a political debate on its decisions.

Swiss People’s Party president Marcel Dettling criticised the Green Party president, suggesting that her attack is primarily intended to attract attention. He said that Rösti is absolutely the right man for the job of environment minister.

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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.