SVP punished for its populism

With their refusal to give the right-wing populist Swiss People's Party (SVP) a second seat on the Executive Federal Council the Swiss parties are castigating the party for its ambivalent policies, the left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung comments: "The political class has given the SVP to understand that the time has come for it to decide: does it want to do opposition politics? If so, Switzerland's entire finely-calibrated politics hang in the balance. Or is it willing to be a sensible, perhaps even boring part of the government? Then it would have to stop playing its populist tune. The crucial factor here will be how the sovereign, the Swiss voters, answer this question. Experience has shown that in times of crisis it prefers all forces to close ranks. If so, the coming year will turn out to be pretty much the same as the end of this one for the SVP: not particularly good."

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