“Not all of us have understood that yet”
Ueli Maurer calls for more cooperation from the SVP
The outgoing SVP Federal Councilor Ueli Maurer has demanded more responsibility and more cooperation from his party. The party must learn that, as the strongest party, it has to be more involved, he said in an interview with the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”.
In his last interview as acting SVP Federal Councilor, Ueli Maurer gave his party a greater sense of responsibility. (archive image)
“Not all of us have understood that yet,” he said in his last interview as Federal Councilor in the Saturday edition of the NZZ. There are topics, such as the EU question, on which the SVP must not give in. “But then there are also topics where the SVP should not necessarily strive for the maximum but together with others the optimum,” he said.
The NZZ spoke to Maurer about the fact that the party had become “more uncompromising and dogmatic” under him as party president. At the end of his political career, he now demands more pragmatism. Mauer replied that even as party president he had insisted on consensus.
“It’s a long way, and it also needs new minds,” he said. If a party keeps sounding the alarm, it loses its impact. The SVP needs a new positive narrative.
Albert Rösti was elected to the Federal Council in December as the new head of the SVP. He will head the Environment and Energy Department. Maurer handed over the finance department to FDP Federal Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter. (SDA)