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Report nowNo sooner had Green National Council member Manuela Weichelt begun her speech on the nuclear initiative than she was interrupted. The reason: she was holding up two boxes.
On Monday, the National Council focused on the major nuclear issue: Should Switzerland lift the ban on building new nuclear power plants? The debate on the initiative “Electricity for Everyone at All Times (Stop the Blackout)” and the indirect counterproposal centered on security of supply, costs, risks, and the future of the energy transition.
Last week, the National Council chamber was nearly empty during the same debate. Today, Zug National Council member Manuela Weichelt (Greens) could count on a larger audience—and perhaps on one spectator who takes things very seriously. At the start of her speech, Weichelt asked the chamber, “Do you know what this is?” while holding up two boxes.
She didn’t get very far after her opening remarks: After just eight words, the presiding officer interrupted her and asked her not to hold up any objects. The debate was chaired by SP National Council member and Second Vice President Farah Rumy.
Weichelt complied with the order and explained that the boxes contained iodine tablets. These would be used in the event of a serious nuclear power plant accident. Radioactive iodine can accumulate in the thyroid gland and cause thyroid cancer in the long term. Iodine tablets are intended to prevent exactly that.
Her message: The risks of nuclear power cannot simply be managed away. Iodine tablets only protect against radioactive iodine, but not against other radioactive substances or the consequences of a serious reactor accident. Weichelt recalled Fukushima, the war in Ukraine, and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant—and said: “Hope is not energy policy.”
SP National Council member Anna Rosenwasser also tried to warn against lifting the ban on new nuclear power plants.
“Many people are worried about whether our country’s electricity needs will be met in the long term. This concern deserves to be addressed with facts,” she said—and then cautioned against placing too much hope in the project: “Planning, building, and commissioning a nuclear power plant takes a remarkably long time. Even if we found a site, a new nuclear power plant could not be commissioned until 2050 at the earliest.” She also criticized the “flow of money from the nuclear lobby” to the SVP.
It is unclear whether the arguments (and boxes) from the left helped. The fact is: Shortly before 7 p.m. , a narrow majority of the National Council decided to reject the counterproposal to the “Stop Blackouts” initiative and send it back to the Federal Council. The decision, with a vote of 100 to 97, was so close that several shouts were heard during the vote, urging the result to swing one way or the other. At least no one was absent. Two members of the center-right abstained—but even they could not have changed the outcome.
For Rösti, this was a setback, as the indirect counterproposal would have lifted the ban on new nuclear power plants even without a “yes” vote on the popular initiative. He must now draft a new counterproposal—including “in-depth assessments of the potential financing of new nuclear power plants.”
The center-right majority strongly supported the original counterproposal and, in part, the popular initiative. Their core argument: renewable energies alone would not be enough for an electricity-hungry future. The final “yes” vote is expected on Friday.
«Jederzeit Strom für alle (Blackout stoppen)»
Die Bundesverfassung1 wird wie folgt geändert:
6 Die Stromversorgung muss jederzeit sichergestellt sein. Der Bund legt dafür die Verantwortlichkeiten fest.
7 Die Stromproduktion hat umwelt- und klimaschonend zu erfolgen. Alle klimaschonenden Arten der Stromerzeugung sind zulässig.
1 SR 101
Benjamin Giezendanner, an SVP National Council member from Aargau, argued, for example: “We currently generate 0.2 terawatt-hours of electricity per year from wind power. But we’re supposed to reach over 2 terawatt-hours by 2030. That’s impossible; it’s illusory.”
His party colleague, Bern SVP National Council member Erich Hess, argued for the country’s independence: “Switzerland must remain politically independent, and we must also be as independent as possible from the European Union when it comes to energy. We therefore urgently need reliable and sufficient electricity.”
He saw two possible sources for this: hydroelectric and nuclear power—though the latter is opposed by the left. “Sometimes I think the Red-Greens want to go back to the Stone Age,” said Hess.
By the way: The brief rebuke directed at Weichelt is linked to a little-known practice, as blue News revealed. SP National Council member Ueli Schmezer was also called to order during the SRG debate when he held up an A3 sheet of paper bearing the words “We have a media crisis.” An explicit ban in the official rules is apparently hard to find. Rather, the practice is that one expresses oneself verbally in debates—and the council leadership can prohibit props.
