President Berset praises both Basel cities at the election ceremony
Published: Wednesday, Dec 6th 2023, 19:00
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At the election ceremony for Eva Herzog (SP) and Eric Nussbaumer (SP), President Alain Berset gave a speech at the Stadtcasino on Wednesday evening. In doing so, he humorously praised the two Basel politicians, who are taking over the presidency of the National Council and the Council of States at the same time for the first time.
Berset looked back on Basel's history and mentioned the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam, the Bernoulli family of scientists and the mathematician Leonhard Euler. "So many geniuses in the same place - we are less familiar with this problem in Bern," said the SP President of the Swiss Confederation.
He also quoted an old Schnitzelbank verse from Fasnacht about the speed of the magistrates in Bern. By way of contrast, he cited the last Federal Councillor from Basel, Hans-Peter Tschudi, whose speedy working style was well known. "I only reached Tschudi's speed once - at the controls of a small plane. As you know, that didn't last long," he said self-deprecatingly, referring to an incident as a private pilot in France.
The newly elected President of the Basel Council of States, Eva Herzog, said that openness across borders was in the DNA of the Basel region. She would place this at the center of her presidential year, as did her colleague from Basel, Nussbaumer.
The ceremony at the Stadtcasino was part of a day-long election celebration for Herzog and Nussbaumer, who were both elected to office on Monday. The election ceremony began at Nussbaumer's home in Liestal. A procession led to the public part in the old town. There, a "Santichlaus" presented the President of the National Council with a young walnut tree on behalf of the town of Liestal.
"Crossing borders" as a motto
At the official ceremony in the town church in Liestal, Nussbaumer presented his motto for the year. This was "Crossing borders, broadening horizons". He emphasized the importance of cross-border cooperation.
Federal Councillor Albert Rösti (SVP) praised Nussbaumer's political career, which he had started with a lot of "hard work". He also added plenty of humor to his speech: "I am glad about your commitment to borders. Only where there are boundaries can they be crossed". Rösti also mentioned the times when he used to duel with Nussbaumer on energy policy, for example on the television program "Arena". "I'll tell you now what Rösti actually wanted to say" - he still remembers this sentence from Nussbaumer well. It sounded so terrible that he doubted himself, said Rösti with a twinkle in his eye.
This is the fifth time that Basel-Landschaft has held the national presidency. "The election not only marks a milestone in his career, but also for the canton of Basel-Landschaft," said the President of the Basel-Landschaft government, Monica Gschwind (FDP), in the Stadtkirche.
Guests from the tri-border region
The party traveled from Liestal to Birsfelden and from there by two boats to Basel. During this time, the Rhine was closed to shipping. In addition to the two Federal Councillors Berset and Rösti, many representatives of federal and cantonal politics were among the party. Guests from abroad included Thomas Strobl, Minister of the Interior of Baden-Württemberg, Christian Debève, member of the Grand Est Regional Council in France, and German MEP Andreas Schwab.
In Basel, carnival cliques and guild games played drums and piccolos in honor of Eva Herzog. They opened a folk festival on the market square with sausages and beer for onlookers and a female rapper on stage, who was invited by Herzog.
Like Berset and Rösti, Basel's President of the Government Beat Jans (SP) took the occasion with humor and quoted the inscription "Hie Schweiz Grund und Boden" ("Here is Switzerland") at the town hall in his speech. It was with these words that the Swiss envoys for the accession talks were received in 1501. The fact that the two Basel cantons now had both a female President of the Council of States and a male President of the National Council this year was the "fruit of successful integration".
The program includes a gala dinner on Wednesday evening in Basel's St. Jakobshalle. The entire celebration costs a total of 480,000 francs. The cantons of Basel-Stadt and Baselland and the city of Liestal are contributing to the costs.
©Keystone/SDA
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