Letter to the Editors

Switzerland does not need a new treaty with the EU that does not fulfil our interests. We do not need a limping peace conference on Ukraine without the Russian side, but in Zelensky mode. We don’t need an absurd energy policy based on an anti-natural and cruelly costly “Mantelerlass”* (luckily the referendum succeeded). These are three enormous official blunders that are damaging our country. The so-called “Mantelerlass” neglects the much more environmentally friendly and cheaper nuclear energy, which – if the calculations are reasonably correct – actually costs a fraction of the total costs of highly subsidised wind turbines and solar plants. Following the failure of the EU framework treaty, the new treaty package can only be criticised for a lack of self-confidence on the part of the federal authorities involved in the dossier. It is unacceptable that our successful country, which is far superior to its EU negotiating partners in terms of democratic practice, should grovel like this and accommodate the other side across the board. Obviously, we have forgotten how to fight for our own cause in all these good years. And finally, the idea of a peace conference without a Russian commitment to participate, launched by the President of the Swiss Confederation Viola Amherd and Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis without consultation with the other Federal Council departments, is a model of naivety that lacks any grounding. When will common sense return?

Hanspeter Bornhauser, Bedano (TI), Switzerland

​(Translation Current Concerns)

* The «Mantelerlass» is a federal law on a secure electricity supply with renewable energies. This law was passed in autumn 2023. It was put to a referendum and there will be a popular vote in June 2024 (Editor's note).​​​​​​