Urs Bertschi wants to ensure the left is represented in the National Council

Urs Bertschi of Zug is standing for election to the National Council in Bern this autumn. As a former leader of the SP party of Zug, he wants to make sure the left is represented in parliament.

In an interview with a journalist of the Zuger Zeitung, the 64-year-old lawyer said how one in every four people in the canton of Zug voted for a left-wing party, and he felt such views should be represented in Bern and in the cantonal government, the current representatives there being “insipid and without imagination”.

As to his three priorities, he mentioned topics which he felt could only be solved with worldwide engagement. “Being proud of one’s own nationality is no remedy against climate change,” he said. “The laws needed must be valid beyond national boundaries,” he declared. “Europe must speak with one voice if it wishes to remain significant. Switzerland simply cannot absolve itself of the responsibilities it shares with other European nations. Furthermore, a self-confident Switzerland must show off its trump cards of direct democracy, federalism and a social market economy which guarantees social peace, not least in the area of rent protection. Fortunately, the gap between rich and poor is not so wide here as in other countries, thanks for the most part to the SP party.”

As to how he felt his own chances of being elected were, he said a seat for the SP was an absolute must in the canton. “Thanks to its openness and diversity, the canton has become strong, but it cannot be left to more right-wing parties to determine everything. It is time to rein in their monopoly of power and economically liberal views; let it be hoped the third seat going in the National Council is held by the left.”

As to why people should vote for him personally, he said he was standing for policies which did not stop at the Swiss border. “Only in this way can we overcome these existential problems. Indeed, we owe it to our children and future generations, if not the planet itself.”