Baume-Schneider says Federal Council needs two French-speaking members

Swiss Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider says the seat held by Guy Parmelin should remain in French-speaking Switzerland, arguing that regional representation is vital to national cohesion, SRF reported.

If a German-speaking candidate replaced Parmelin, Baume-Schneider would be the Federal Council’s only French-speaking member. She said the French-speaking region should have two representatives, despite the presence of Ticino’s Ignazio Cassis, who represents Italian-speaking Switzerland.

“Recognition of the language regions must not just be a slogan,” Baume-Schneider said in an interview on SRF’s Samstagsrundschau. She said the issue was about Switzerland’s cohesion and pointed to the constitution, which calls for the country’s regions and language communities to be represented appropriately. The Swiss People’s Party must first decide which candidates to put forward, she said, before the Federal Assembly elects a new member of the government.

Having only one French-speaking and one Italian-speaking member on the Federal Council would not be unprecedented. It occurred at least four times since the founding of the Swiss state in 1848 and was the norm during its first 20 years. The last time was in the 1960s, when Roger Bonvin and Nello Celio held those seats.

Geneva lawmaker Céline Amaudruz, of the Swiss People’s Party, announced her candidacy this week to succeed Parmelin. She told Tamedia newspapers it would be a “humiliation” for French-speaking Switzerland if no candidate from the region made the party’s ticket. Baume-Schneider said Amaudruz was using words she needed during the campaign to show her determination.

Baume-Schneider also criticised debate over whether mothers of young children can serve on the Federal Council, calling it “a little embarrassing”. She said she had served as a member of the Jura cantonal government while raising young children, and noted that men with young children are not asked how they manage.

Women currently hold two of the seven seats on the Federal Council. The women’s umbrella organisation Alliance F called this week for the Swiss People’s Party to put forward an all-women ticket.