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The Green Meret Schneider is certainly the funniest tweeting parliamentarian.
No social medium is as important for politicians as Twitter (well, because of the older electorate, many are still on Facebook and because you want to be young and hip on Tiktok). But on Twitter they are all. But not everyone uses the channel in the same way. Blick presents the most conspicuous Twitterers from the Federal Palace.
Funny, funnier, Meret Schneider (30)! Hardly a day goes by when the Green National Councilor does not entertain on Twitter. Once she’s up and running, she fires off her tweets almost every hour. She writes about politics, but also shares everyday observations.
your sense of humor? Always dry, a little snappy, often self-deprecating, never mean. Puns are very popular with her. With this, Schneider not only wins the hearts of farmers, but also of professional comedians like Viktor Giacobbo (70). And fills in the urban-rural divide all by himself. If she takes someone for a ride, then with lots and lots of love, as this tweet about her SVP colleague and butcher Mike Egger (30) proves.
Not even the Federal Council is safe from their humor:
It’s as certain as the Amen in the church: If somewhere in the world a young man with a migration background commits something, Andi Glarner (60) uses his chance to warn against the “foreign infiltration” in Switzerland. The New Year’s Eve riots in Berlin are of course a godsend.
But the Aargau SVP National Council does not even need such undoubtedly criminal behavior. It is enough to receive social assistance to reap Glarner’s furor.
Or being a climate activist, being trans, or just left-green. Here, too, he likes to use foreign examples, which he Swissizes just like the migrant riots in Berlin.
For a few years, however, Glarner has had competition – and of all things from the same canton and the same party: National Councilor Martina Bircher (38) also tweets about migration every day – and often just as provocatively.
Center President Gerhard Pfister (60) has calmed down. Just a few years ago, he shared, often late in the evening or at the weekend, on Twitter with a sharp pen: against the political competition, against the Federal Council, against the “crime scene”, against the SRG. Against almost everyone.
The Zug National Council is still on Twitter every day, but now primarily as a retweeter. Many of the posts he shares come from his own party or its sections. Or from former English soccer star Gary Lineker (62). Because many people don’t know that Pfister is a football fan. So, from GC, stop…
The suspicion arises that Pfister also uses the retweets to spread his own opinion – but prefers not to write it himself (because he knows the media echo it can trigger). Would you like an example? Pfister retweeted this tweet from attorney Emran Erken:
When Pfister hits the keys himself today, it is primarily to appeal to the humanitarian conscience of the Federal Council – for example in relation to the protests in Iran.
And his pointed nib hasn’t completely disappeared either, as the example shows. About football, of course.
Mitte parliamentary group leader Philipp Matthias Bregy (44) shows in an exemplary manner how humor and politics can be reconciled – or in his case under the Christmas sweater. In doing so, he does credit to the self-proclaimed family party: on Christmas Eve, fresh and without shyness, he posts photos of his family in colorful Christmas sweaters, thereby proving to the whole world that traditional family life is important to him.
But he always manages to elicit something humorous from the tedious everyday politics. For example, when he thanks his parliamentary group secretary for the “farewell gift” after the winter session: many, many files.
Or when the Valais wonders about the foggy parliament building.
The Basel bidders, also known as Euroturbos
Eric Nussbaumer (62) is busy. The Basel-based SP National Council has sent or retweeted a whopping 12,708 tweets in ten years (two new ones were added while writing this text alone). It feels like 12,700 of them are related to Switzerland’s relationship with the EU.
The president of the Swiss European Movement (EES) doesn’t turn his heart into a den of murderers: he is immensely disappointed in the Federal Council and its hesitant attitude. Nussbaumer wants rapid rapprochement with the EU – at least!
And when Blick writes a critical headline, he immediately gets his fat off: “Oh, Blick …”
Nussbaumer’s sympathies are clearly located. Angry tongues are even expecting an appointment as honorary EU ambassador in the near future.
In parliament, Nussbaumer only faces competition from his own canton. However, the Basel region’s middle national councilor, Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter (58), does not want to send a new application for membership to Brussels right away. Above all, it has economic interests in mind.
Full employment, GDP, regulatory brakes: Andri Silberschmidt’s (28) Twitter account is a bit dry – you won’t find humor here. This is probably due to his favorite topics. Neither the pension fund pensions nor the state of the health care system are laughable.
He was a little more approachable at the beginning of December: for once he didn’t post about topics in parliament, but about his passing the truck test.
The ones that are a bit boring
Balthasar Glättli (50), National Councilor and President of the Greens, is considered a philosopher among politicians. Some call him a “Schnurri”, others – because of his sometimes missionary nature – “Jesus”. Glättli is rather reserved on Twitter. He regularly shares “Balthasar’s Green Links”, an “online newspaper”, compiled from automatically collected links from tweeting Greens, some of which he has commented on.
As befits his role as party president, he also regularly points to the successes of his party colleagues.
Last but not least, Glättli likes to prove on Twitter that he is good at English. Again and again he retweets English news and even translates important tweets into German for his followers:
When asked why her political successes are not noticed, the Zurich FDP National Councilor Regine Sauter (56) once said: She wanted to convince through performance, not through slapstick. This is exactly how her appearance on Twitter works.
Her profile on the short message service shows a worker who puts her achievements in the foreground. Because she likes to post announcements, photos of appearances at party events or voting recommendations with huge posters in hand.
That this may seem a bit old-fashioned in the shrill world of social media: for free! Now she wants to be in the Council of States. She is running for the vacant seat of party colleague Ruedi Noser (61). For this she is looking for supporters. Five people liked the tweet. There’s still room for improvement. After all: According to information on Sauter’s website, 458 people are already supporting their candidacy for the Council of States.
The one where Instagram is better
There is also room for improvement with FDP National Councilor Marcel Dobler (42). His Twitter account is mainly used to promote his advances. It is often about digitization topics – no wonder, since the entrepreneur is an expert in online trading and also Vice President of Digital Switzerland.
As a result, Dobler doesn’t come across as very exciting on Twitter. Luckily there is still Instagram: The former professional athlete shows his wild side there – biking in Arosa, historical mortar shooting, camel riding during desert holidays. Or posing in swimwear – in the spirit of political transparency.