Swiss Review 6/2019

Swiss Review / November 2019 / No.6 9 chose to elect two women to the Fed- eral Council one year ago. Regardless of party differences, greater female representation could also have a tan- gible impact on the political agenda, says Zuber. Examples include policies to promotework-family balance, com- bat gun violence and tackle environ- mental issues. Zuber stresses that the Helvetia is calling! campaignwill con- tinue beyond the elections: “Our aim is equal gender representation in both chambers.” (SWE) of global warming. The Federal Coun- cil recently tightened the country’s climate targets on the basis of these findings, announcing that Switzer- land must aim for climate neutrality and reduce net greenhouse gas emis- sions to zero by 2050. Before the elec- tions, the Council of States approved a revised CO 2 Act that proposes a sur- charge on the price of petrol as well as a levy on air tickets. We will soon see what a greener National Council thinks about this, and whether vot- ers are prepared to swallow the new taxes. “There is a good chance that Swiss climate policy will become more ambitious,” says Seneviratne, who thinks the Federal Council’s tar- gets are realistic, not radical. Switzer- land, a highly developed country, has committed in the Paris Agreement to do its bit against climate change, and green taxes are a socially acceptable means of going about it, she explains. “And you can refund these contribu- tions by reducing health insurance premiums, for example.” In particu- lar, the climatologist recommends prets the losses for the SP as a sign that people want the left-wing party to return to its traditional pro-Euro- pean values. For example, prominent trade unionists who had recently ex- pressed their opposition to the framework deal lost their seats. If the SP grabbed the bull by the horns and took the lead, he believes that a big “coalition of common sense” could come together in the same way that it did to oppose the SVP’s limitation in- itiative. This is the only wayto pre- serve and develop the bilateral agree- ments, which are important for the economy and the country as a whole, also stood a better chance of being elected from their lists than in 2015. Helvetia is calling! was actively in- volved in around a thousand local party sections across the country, mo- tivating and supporting hundreds of female candidates on the campaign trail. Helvetia called – and was heard. Nowwas clearly the right time. Zuber believes that several factors prove this, not least the women’s strike in June that attracted hundreds of thousands of people. Furthermore, an over- whelming majority in parliament that members of the newly elected parliament read the IPCC special re- port on global warming, which de- tails the climate risks of exceeding the 1.5°C threshold. “I would even suggest that we begin discussing whether we want to make Switzer- land carbon-neutral by as early as 2040,” she adds. (SWE) says Cottier: “Swiss who live in EU countries also need legal certainty.” The Europe expert wants the Federal Council and parliament to take other things into account besides domestic considerations. “The geopolitical cli- mate has changed,” he says. In the coming years, Switzerland will be- come much more dependent on sta- ble relations with the EU, he believes. (SWE)