2024-04-19 15:59:35
Imark attacks Martullo-Blocher: “Like a elephant in a china shop”
The party wants to reject the electricity law. Now energy politician Christian Imark is taking unusually harsh shots at Magdalena Martullo-Blocher. Other SVP politicians stand behind him.
Magdalena Martullo-Blocher leads the SVP’s resistance to the electricity law – now she is being criticized by party colleagues.
Photo: Urs Jaudas
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The tone within the SVP is becoming more tense. The reason for this is the voting battle over the electricity law. Around 20 SVP parliamentarians are supporting the law. This is despite the fact that the SVP decided on the no slogan on the recommendation of the party leadership.
Now National Councilor Christian Imark is publicly criticizing Vice President Magdalena Martullo-Blocher. He agreed that she was “better versed” in economic policy than in energy policy CH-Media: “She should focus accordingly.”
It is rare for an SVP National Council to take such harsh shots at a prominent representative of their own party. Imark has been the SVP’s figurehead in energy policy for several years. Above all, he was present on all channels in the voting campaign against the CO₂ law – and he chairs the Energy and Environment Commission of the National Council.
“We can’t always beat our heads against the wall”
Imark’s main criticism: Martullo, who leads the resistance to the electricity law, endangers longer-term party interests. Since the elections in October, the SVP, FDP and Center have been working very well together – and this is now at stake. “If you reach an agreement with other parties in parliament and then say no at the ballot box, you make yourself untrustworthy,” he explains when asked.
Imark hopes to win over the FDP and parts of the center for a counter-proposal to the anti-blackout initiative, which is intended to pave the way for the construction of new nuclear power plants. “But if you behave like a bull in a china shop, you put good cooperation at risk.”
According to Imark, a number of parliamentarians are bothered by the fact that Martullo rejects the electricity law, even though she asked for support for the Chlus hydroelectric power plant in Graubünden during the debate on the bill. “Some people in our party don’t see how much we are currently achieving in parliament.”
He understands that the SVP has created a unique selling point in energy policy by saying no to the CO₂ and climate laws – and now wants to preserve this, says Imark. But: “We can’t always beat our heads against the wall. We have a shared responsibility for security of supply.”
Compromises were part of the job
SVP National Councilor Diana Gutjahr sees it similarly to Imark: “With this no, we are jeopardizing the support of our civil partners, which we will need for future discussions about nuclear power plants and independence from Europe.”
In parliament, two thirds of the SVP parliamentarians approved the electricity law. Martullo was already against it back then – unlike all the SVP energy politicians on the commission at the time. Mike Egger is one of them. He says: “It’s our job to make a compromise at some point. I still support the Electricity Act.”
He is clearly of the opinion that everything is needed: water, solar and bioenergy – especially nuclear power plants. But: “Everyone in the SVP is allowed to have their own opinion here, and there must be space to discuss the topic controversially and to express oneself publicly.”
“For it in parliament, then against it – that’s difficult.”
The SVP National Councilor and Zurich Farmers’ Association President Martin Haab criticizes: “If the SVP has agreed on a position with other parties, the party leadership must also represent it at the delegate meeting.” The delegates could then still decide differently. “But they don’t know all the issues in detail and often follow the party leadership.” Haab is also bothered by the fact that some of his party colleagues have changed their minds. “Being for it in parliament and then being against it – that’s difficult.”
SVP Councilor of States Esther Friedli also says that she has trouble when a majority of the parliamentary group members say yes and some later get involved in the no committee. “We have to make sure that we have such internal party discussions earlier in the group in the future and then, if possible, go into a voting campaign as a unit.” Because: “Citizens expect us to deal with their problems and develop solutions instead of carrying out any party quarrels publicly.” But Friedli also says that she does not believe that the slogans against the electricity law will prevent future compromises among citizens.
SVP Vice President Martullo-Blocher does not comment on the criticism that she is on a business trip. SVP President Marcel Dettling told the “Aargauer Zeitung”: “I told the supporters of the electricity law in the parliamentary group that they should be cautious in the future. Because they take a different stance than the highest body decided by the Assembly of Delegates.”
Not the first internal exchange of blows over a vote
As a rule, the SVP appears as a united body. But a similar situation to the current one with the Electricity Act occurred around twelve years ago during a vote on health insurance – the so-called managed care bill. At that time, the SVP parliamentarians in parliament voted for it, but the party fought against it in the voting campaign – and the immediate result was a no.
At that time, too, there was an exchange of blows that was played out in public: SVP health politician Toni Bortoluzzi was so angry about the no vote that he publicly mocked Christoph Mörgeli. When it became known that, according to his boss at the time, Mörgeli had neglected his duties as curator at the Medical History Museum at the University of Zurich, Bortoluzzi told “Blick”: “Mörgeli has to resign! And dust off the bones in Zurich.”
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