Justice Minister Explains Crime Trends +++ Why Baume-Schneider is So Happy +++ What Politics Can Learn from Nuclear Waste +++ Insights from Bundesgasse
Jans Close to the Mafia
fab. Federal Councillor Beat Jans gave an interview to the “Sonntags-Blick” covering a wide range of topics. Amidst casual conversation, he touches on the USA and EU, asylum issues, and his unilaterally declared friendship with Albert Rösti. In the midst of it all, the topic of the Mafia arises. When asked how dangerous they are, Jans responds, “All criminal organizations are dangerous because they disregard our values. They make their money by breaking our laws and exploiting people.” Intriguing.
Surprisingly, Switzerland does not yet have a strategy against organized crime. However, Jans has now initiated one. How does he plan to proceed? “We need to focus more on being able to thwart their operations.” That sounds like a clear plan. Jans goes even further, “These gangs often finance themselves through drugs, money laundering, and human trafficking.” Quite an eye-opener.
Twenty-three years ago, the then Federal Prosecutor Valentin Roschacher traveled to Rome to agree on “effective cooperation” in the fight against organized crime. He signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Italian mafia hunters. However, hearing what Justice Minister Jans has to say on the topic now, one wonders if it was truly a Memorandum and not more of a Moratorium of Understanding.
Forever Saving Private Ryan
fab. But Beat Jans can take solace in the fact that it is a core competency of Federal Councillors to publicly fail repeatedly at the same eternal problems. Albert Camus would say, one must imagine a Federal Councillor as a happy person.
The happiest Federal Councillor is Elisabeth Baume-Schneider. She gets to tackle the issue that, if it existed, would deserve the superlative of “unsolvable”: healthcare costs. Undeterred, she convenes all stakeholders, launches a new call for savings, initiates a new roundtable, and commissions a new expert report.
Reflective of her priorities after the meeting: stronger primary care, better digitalization. How many times have we heard this before? Even the upcoming vote on unified financing will not bring a final cure. Medically speaking, the healthcare policy suffers from a circulatory disorder.
Politics for 100,000 Years
bin. Finally, some positive news: The federal government does not anticipate the apocalypse anytime soon. The National Cooperative for the Storage of Radioactive Waste, Nagra, believes that a future nuclear waste disposal site in the Zurich lowlands could withstand glacial advances. This was revealed through drilling that unearthed 2.6 million years of geological history.
According to the findings, not even a “bold advance of the Rhine-Linth Glacier from Grisons and Glarus” would be enough to damage the buried nuclear waste. May political parties take these insights seriously and strive to make policies that extend beyond just the next elections, but through the next ice age.