Yet she had everything to please, Viola Amherd. Close to the common people, the Alpine soul, hardworking, discreet, even shy, but despite everything defeating the strong heads of her party when reaching the Federal Council, she embodied a sort of Swiss DNA all by herself.
The first woman to lead the army, she carried a certain idea of sustainability and equality, but not only that. Her smiling roundness did not prevent her from convincing the Swiss of the need to buy new combat planes or to obtain a substantial increase in resources for the army, in a context of budgetary austerity. Its openness to NATO or the European Union has contributed in recent months to Switzerland maintaining good relations with its partners; its cordial understanding with Ursula von der Leyen was profitable. And that’s about it.
Declining influence
Because the pivotal role in the Federal Council, held for two decades by the Center – especially under the leadership of the formidable Doris Leuthard – has faded at high speed with the Brigande. Much less comfortable than her predecessor on the chessboard of the great strategists of the Cupola, Viola Amherd preferred to cling to what was initially a punishment, the Department of Defense, rather than daring to shake up the court big ones. Which she could have tried at the end of 2022, when Simonetta Sommaruga left the prestigious Department of Transport and the Environment.
His partisan family has never forgiven him for this guilty weakness, characteristic of a lack of political appetite, when it could have given the Center new governmental momentum. Since then, and despite his presidential year, rumors of early departure have stuck to him. His reserved personality never succeeded in making us forget this choice of standing still; the new Center could not rely on its possible energy to conquer new bastions.
In this context, the departure of Viola Amherd could give a big blow to the wings of her party. Because with the resignation of President Gerhard Pfister – who we see bouncing back to the government – these are the two highest positions in the party that must now be filled. And if possible with a complementary and ambitious duo. Three years before the federal elections, it is difficult to imagine a better scenario for the Center. In the sights, obviously, the reconquest of the second seat on the Federal Council, lost in 2003.
