The SVP Federal Council relies on a Mercedes
Rösti doesn’t want to know anything about Sommaruga’s electric limousine
In the new year, the Federal Councilors are mainly traveling in Mercedes company vehicles. And with a combustion engine. Only Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis occasionally uses electricity.
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As environment minister, Simonetta Sommaruga last had an electric VW as a company vehicle.
Shortly before she announced her resignation, the then SP Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga (62) once again made an energy policy statement. She exchanged the electric sedan from Tesla that Doris Leuthard (59) had taken over for a much smaller vehicle – a Volkswagen ID.3 Pro S. She recently had herself chauffeured to performances, events and visits with the new and more energy-efficient e-model. This made her the only incumbent Federal Councilor to opt for an electric car.
But the time of pure e-state bodies in the Federal Council is now over, as the “SonntagsZeitung” reports. The new Energy Minister Albert Rösti (55) didn’t want to know anything about Sommaruga’s electric VW. Instead, the SVP magistrate can be driven around in a Mercedes – like most of his government friends.
In addition to Rösti, Karin Keller-Sutter (59, FDP), Viola Amherd (60, middle), Guy Parmelin (63, SVP) and the new Federal Councilor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (59, SP) also rely on the S 350 4Matic model. Federal President Alain Berset (50, SP) is chauffeured around in a Mercedes V250 4M.
Only Cassis runs electrically from time to time
This means that all Federal Councils use a combustion engine. With one small exception: the BMW 745Le xDrive sedan from FDP Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (61) is a plug-in hybrid. He is also on the road electrically from time to time.
The fact that not a single member of the government drives a purely electric car is surprising in view of the climate problem. After all, the federal administration has the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2030. For new purchases, therefore, purely electrically powered passenger cars should normally be ordered. Only that there is a problem with the implementation of this directive. According to this, almost half of the cars bought since then – partly for functional reasons – had an internal combustion engine. (russian)