Marcel Dettling is the new President of the SVP Switzerland
Published: Saturday, Mar 23rd 2024, 16:30
Updated At: Saturday, Mar 23rd 2024, 16:50
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Marcel Dettling is the new President of the Swiss SVP. He succeeds Marco Chiesa from Ticino. At the delegates' meeting in Langenthal BE, the party base also decided, after a long debate, to vote against the energy decree, which will be put to a popular vote in June.
The bill aims to make it easier to plan and approve large-scale electricity production plants and to encourage the construction of small solar plants thanks to incentives.
In suitability areas defined by the cantons, large solar and wind power plants are to be given priority over other interests, including nature conservation and agriculture. However, the population still has a say in planning and construction. For 16 hydropower projects explicitly mentioned in the law, there will be planning simplifications and slightly fewer co-determination rights compared to today.
Among other things, the proposal also contains savings targets: Average energy consumption per capita per year must fall by 43 percent by 2035 compared to 2000 levels and by 53 percent by 2050.
SVP Federal Councillor Albert Rösti spoke out in favor of the bill at the delegates' meeting. An electricity shortage is still a major risk for the country. Rösti emphasized that it was important for Switzerland to be able to increase its electricity production.
He promised the skeptics in his own ranks that the law would not allow Switzerland to be paved over with wind and solar power plants. Zones would be created where such an expansion would be possible.
However, if the law is rejected, applications for such facilities could be submitted anywhere. The law is therefore also channeling. Furthermore, projects could only be realized if the affected municipalities agreed, Rösti emphasized. The law enables investments, for example as part of the Solar Express in the Alpine region.
A lot of effort for too little return
Solar and wind power do not provide a secure power supply, countered National Councillor and Deputy Party President Magdalena Martullo-Blocher. It is not just a few wind turbines and solar plants. Rather, 9,000 wind turbines and solar plants with an area five times the size of Lake Zurich are needed.
"Lots of wind turbines and solar panels for little electricity," was Martullo-Blocher's conclusion. She was firmly against the bill.
Numerous delegates expressed their views in a lively debate. Many critics feared a disfigurement of the landscape and a loss of municipal autonomy.
The party leadership had recommended that the delegates vote against. Numerous members of the Federal Assembly campaigned for a Yes vote. In the end, however, the delegates voted clearly against with 242 votes in favor, 149 against and six abstentions.
As expected, the SVP also voted against the left's premium relief initiative. The delegates rejected the cost brake initiative of the center by 329 votes to 11 with three abstentions. The Swiss people will vote on the proposals on June 9. The party executive committee will issue its own slogan for the fourth referendum proposal, the "Stop compulsory vaccination initiative".
Mountain farmer and National Councillor climbs to the top of the SVP
The delegates also bid farewell to party president Marco Chiesa on Saturday. The man from Ticino was elected party president in 2020. The delegates bid Chiesa farewell with a standing ovation.
The delegates elected 43-year-old mountain farmer and National Councillor Marcel Dettling as the new SVP President on Saturday. The man from Central Switzerland is considered to be down-to-earth, close to the people and conservative. Dettling was the only candidate to succeed Chiesa.
Dettling was one of the founding members of the Young SVP of the canton of Schwyz in 1998. Dettling was first elected to the cantonal parliament in 2008. In 2015, he surprisingly made the leap into the National Council.
Dettling has made a career for himself within the party: in 2018, he joined the party leadership committee of the SVP Switzerland and has been Vice President since 2022 - alongside National Councillors Céline Amaudruz (GE) and Magdalena Martullo-Blocher (GR). Dettling belongs to the conservative wing of the party.
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