Christoph Blocher

Christoph Blocher (German pronunciation: [ˈkrɪ⁠stɔ⁠f ˈblɔ⁠⁠xər]; born 11 October 1940) is a Swiss politician, industrialist, and former member of the Swiss Federal Council heading the Federal Department of Justice and Police (2004–2007). He served as vice president of the Swiss People's Party until 24 March 2018. As an industrialist, he became very wealthy as CEO and majority shareholder in the EMS-Chemie corporation, now run by his daughter, Magdalena Martullo-Blocher.[1]

Christoph Blocher
Member of the Swiss Federal Council
In office
1 January 2004 – 31 December 2007
Preceded byRuth Metzler
Succeeded byEveline Widmer-Schlumpf
Minister of Justice and Police
In office
1 January 2004 – 31 December 2007
Preceded byRuth Metzler
Succeeded byEveline Widmer-Schlumpf
Personal details
Born (1940-10-11) 11 October 1940
Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Political partySwiss People's Party
Spouse(s)Silvia Blocher
Children4

A controversial figure,[2] Blocher is known for his role in transforming Swiss politics,[2][3] shifting it to the right, as well as the Swiss People's Party,[3] which "developed a eurosceptic and anti-immigration agenda that has shaken up the cozy post-war consensual system prevailing in neutral Switzerland," and has become "the dominant force in national politics."[3] In addition, Blocher served as the de facto leader of the SVP and a symbol of the party.[4]

Early life and education

The son of a pastor, Blocher was born in 1940, the seventh of eleven children.[2][5] Blocher served in the Swiss military as an Aerial Defense Regiment Commander and Colonel.[6] Blocher earned a certificate at the Wülflingen school of agriculture. In 1961, Blocher began studying independently for the Swiss Matura. In 1963, Blocher completed and passed the exams for the Swiss Matura, and in 1964, he passed an additional exam in Latin to pursue legal studies at university. He then studied law at the University of Zürich, in Montpellier, and in Paris.[7] He has a DEA degree in law, and in 1971, he was awarded a doctorate in jurisprudence from the University of Zürich.[8]

While at the University of Zürich, Blocher co-founded the Students' Ring, which opposed the 1968 student protests and the left-wing politics on university campuses.[8]

Business career

Blocher started working at EMS-Chemie in 1969 as a student in its legal department.[1][9] In 1972, Blocher was voted Chairman of the Board and CEO of the company, and in 1983, he purchased a majority of EMS-Chemie.[1][9]

When Blocher was voted into the Swiss Federal Council in 2003, he retired from all business functions in EMS and sold his majority holding to his four children on 30 December 2003.[1][9] Blocher's oldest daughter, Magdalena Martullo-Blocher, became CEO of EMS on 1 January 2004.[1][9]

Political career

Blocher built his political career through campaigning for smaller government, for a free-market economy, against Switzerland's membership in the European Union and for more tightly controlled immigration. He stated he entered the political arena by chance due to a local zoning dispute.[2] Blocher joined the SVP in 1972 and became the SVP president of the SVP chapter in Meilen in 1974.[8] After being elected to the Cantonal Council of Zürich in 1975,[8] Blocher was elected to the Swiss National Council and represented the canton of Zürich there from 25 November 1979 until his election to the federal council on 12 December 2003 as a deputy of the Swiss People's Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei/Union démocratique du centre; SVP/UDC), and then again from 4 December 2011 to 30 May 2014.[10][11]

In addition to leading the Zürich chapter of the Swiss People's Party, Blocher was a cofounder of the Action for an Independent and Neutral Switzerland (Aktion für eine unabhängige und neutrale Schweiz), and he served as the president of the organization from its foundation in 1986 until his election to the Federal Council in 2003.[12][13][14]

When Blocher was elected president of the Zürich SVP in 1977, he declared his intent to oversee significant change in the political line of the Zürich SVP, bringing an end to debates that aimed to open the party up to a wide array of opinions. Blocher soon consolidated his power in Zürich, and began to renew the organisational structures, activities, campaigning style and political agenda of the local branch.[15][16] The young members of the party were boosted with the establishment of a cantonal Young SVP (JSVP) in 1977, as well as political training courses. The ideology of the Zürich branch was also reinforced, and the rhetoric hardened,[16] which resulted in the best election result for the Zürich branch in fifty years in the 1979 federal election, with an increase from 11.3% to 14.5%. This was contrasted with the stable level in the other cantons, although the support also stagnated in Zürich through the 1980s.[17]

The struggle that existed between the SVP's largest branches of Bern and Zürich continued into the early 1990s. While the Bern-oriented faction represented the old moderate style of the SVP, the Zürich-oriented wing led by Blocher represented a new radical right-wing populist agenda. The Zürich wing began to politicise asylum issues, and the question of European integration started to dominate Swiss political debates. They also adopted more confrontational methods.[18][16] The Zürich-wing followingly started to gain ground in the party at the expense of the Bern-wing, and the party became increasingly centralised as a national party, in contrast to the traditional Swiss system of parties with loose organisational structures and weak central powers.[19] During the 1990s, the party also doubled its number of cantonal branches (to eventually be represented in all cantons), which strengthened the power of the Zürich-wing since most new sections supported their agenda.[20] Although Swiss political parties tended to lack dominant national leaders, Blocher became the de facto leader of the national SVP and one of the most famous Swiss politicians.[21]

In 1991, the party for the first time became the strongest party in Zürich, with 20.2% of the vote.[22] The party broke through in the early 1990s in both Zürich and Switzerland as a whole, and experienced dramatically increasing results in elections.[23] From being the smallest of the four governing parties at the start of the 1990s, the party by the end of the decade emerged as the strongest party in Switzerland.[24] At the same time, the party expanded its electoral base towards new voter demographics.[25] The SVP in general won its best results in cantons where the cantonal branches adopted the agenda of the Zürich wing.[26] In the 1999 federal election, the SVP for the first time became the strongest party in Switzerland with 22.5% of the vote, a 12.6% share increase. This was the biggest increase of votes for any party in the entire history of the Swiss proportional electoral system, which was introduced in 1919.[27]

Libel incident

In 1997 a speech, Blocher stated "The Jewish organizations that demand money, claim that ultimately it is not about money. But let's be honest: This is exactly what it is about." These remarks were in relation to claims for restitution of Nazi-seized assets that were hidden in Swiss banks. The following day, the tabloid Sonntags-Blick published an article with the headline "Blocher: The Jews are all about money." Blocher filed for libel against the editor-in-chief of the tabloid. The district court acquitted the journalist because Blocher "unrestrainedly addressed anti-Semitic instincts."[28] Blocher appealed the verdict. Before the Zürich supreme court, the two parties agreed on a settlement. Later the chairman of the 4th bureau of the Zürich district court filed a criminal complaint against Blocher on the grounds that the preoccupation with the speech had let them believe that Blocher hat violated the law on racism.[29] The district court requested to lift the immunity of Blocher, which he enjoyed through his office as a member of the National Council. Both chambers of the parliament denied the request.[30]

Federal councillor
Official Swiss Federal Council photo for 2007. Blocher is the second person from the left.

2003 election

The People's Party emerged as the largest party in the National Council in the Federal Assembly election of 19 October 2003 with 26.6% of the vote. Blocher personally topped the poll in Zürich, and became Switzerland's most prominent and controversial politician.

Since 1929, the People's Party (known until 1971 as the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents [BGB]) had held a seat on the seven-member Swiss Federal Council. At the time the current coalition formed in 1959, the BGB was the smallest party represented on the Council. By 2003 it had become the largest party, and demanded another seat at the expense of the Christian Democrats, now the smallest party. The SVP nominated Blocher as its second candidate. This generated a good deal of controversy; previously most SVP councillors had come from the party's more moderate centrist-agrarian wing.

After threats of pulling the other People's Party member, Samuel Schmid (a member of the centrist wing), off the council and going into opposition, Blocher was elected on 10 December 2003. He took the seat of Ruth Metzler-Arnold, only the third federal councillor in history (and the first since 1872) not to be reelected.

In the third round Blocher beat Metzler with 121 to 116 votes.[31] The election was anticipated as a major media event[32] and widely watched as a live broadcast. After Blocher's election, members of the Swiss political Left spontaneously protested.[33]

As a result of a reshuffling of Federal Council seats, Blocher became head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police.

Controversies

During 2004, Blocher's unconventionally unaccommodating stance towards his fellow federal councillors was the cause for speculations about the future of the Swiss concordance system. He was attacked by his colleague Pascal Couchepin in an interview with the NZZ newspaper in the Sunday edition of 3 October. This was unprecedented in Switzerland; members of the Federal Council traditionally do not publicly criticise each other.

In a public speech held at his cantonal party's annual Albisgüetlitagung in Zürich on 20 January 2006, Blocher labeled two Albanians seeking political asylum as "criminals", although no judicial verdict had been reached at the time. Later, when confronted, he claimed before the Swiss Council of States (the upper house) that he had only used the word 'accused'. Since the speech had been recorded, he then had to admit that he had used the word "criminals". In July 2006, a commission of the Council of States reprimanded Blocher, stating that the setting of false prejudice and making false statement to the Council of States constituted unacceptable behaviour for a Federal Councillor.

Civil unrest in Lausanne in the wake of anti-Blocher protests of 18 September 2007

On 5 September 2007, a parliamentary committee sharply criticised Blocher for overstepping his mandate in his handling of the resignation of former chief prosecutor Valentin Roschacher in 2006. In addition, documents confiscated in March by the German authorities from private banker Oskar Holenweger under suspicion of money laundering were presented as supporting a possible involvement of Blocher in a plot to oust Roschacher from office. Blocher denied any involvement in such a plan. These developments happened to coincide with a campaign alleging a "secret plan to oust Blocher" initiated by the SVP on 27 August, and party spokesperson S. R. Jäggi on 6 September confirmed that campaign was referring to the documents incriminating Blocher in the Roschacher affair now revealed.[34][35] Tension surrounding the "Blocher-Roschacher affair" was fuelled by the upcoming 2007 federal election. On 25 September, the National Council (the lower house) decided to press a debate of the affair before the elections, overturning a decision by the council's office.

Blocher was a target for the opposition on 18 September 2007, when his appearance at the Comptoir suisse (Swiss fair) in Lausanne was disrupted by protesters.[36]

In January 2012, it was reported that Blocher had received information from an unnamed whistleblower regarding foreign exchange trades at Bank Sarasin made by Swiss National Bank chairman Philipp Hildebrand's wife Kashya.[37] The alleged whistleblower was subsequently fired and faced criminal investigations under Swiss banking secrecy laws. Hildebrand denied accusations of insider trading, claimed to be the "victim of a smear campaign" and said that his political foes endangered the secrecy laws and "the interests of Switzerland" with the accusations.[38] Blocher had called for Hildebrand's resignation in 2011 in the wake of SNB's foreign exchange-related losses[37] and continued strong calls after the FX-trades story grew,[39] before Hildebrand ultimately resigned.

2007 failed reelection
Demonstration in Lausanne on 8 December to call for Christoph Blocher to be ousted from the Federal Council in the upcoming elections. Blocher was replaced by Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf four days later.

In the Swiss Federal Council elections of 12 December 2007, Blocher did not receive the necessary number of votes in the parliament to retain his seat. In his stead, the parliament elected Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (a moderate SVP member), who accepted the mandate on 13 December 2007.[40] Blocher thus became the fourth federal councillor to be ousted from office in the history of the Swiss Federal State, following Ruth Metzler whom he had replaced the previous term, besides Ulrich Ochsenbein and Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel in the 19th century.

2008 candidacy

Following the resignation of federal councillor Samuel Schmid on 12 November 2008, Blocher decided to run for the office again. The People's Party nominated him together with Ueli Maurer. In view of the 2007 election results, Blocher's chances to be re-elected were thought to be very slim.[41] Not surprisingly, he had no chance of being re-elected and had to make room for his party colleague Ueli Maurer, who won the election in the end.

Post councillorship
Blocher in 2010 as an honorary guest at the Swiss National Trachtenfest (folk costume festival) in Schwyz.

In 2008, Blocher became one of the 5 vice presidents of the SVP.[42]

After the extremely large 2007/2008 losses posted by UBS, its chairman Marcel Ospel resigned on 1 April 2008, and Mr. Blocher was rumoured to be considered as his replacement.[43][44] However the role went to Peter Kurer, the bank’s general counsel.

Blocher was important in the success of the 9 February 2014 referendum on immigration quotas in Switzerland and continues to support policies designed to limit immigration to Switzerland.[45]

Blocher announced that he would resign from the National Council on 31 May 2014, saying that he was “wasting too much time in parliament” and that he wanted to focus on other political priorities like the implementation of the successful referendum "Against mass immigration" and a planned initiative on preventing Switzerland joining the European Union.[10]

In January 2016, soon after the 2015 federal election, where the Swiss People's Party received record gains, Blocher announced that he would not stand for reelection as vice president of the SVP when his term ended in April.[5] Despite this, Blocher stated that he would remain involved in politics and would "push his anti-EU and anti-immigration campaigns",[3] and he would remain in a senior position in the SVP.[46]

Blocher supported the popular initiative "For the effective expulsion of foreign criminals", held on 28 February 2016, but after its rejection, Blocher urged the SVP to use its position in the government, rather than popular initiatives, to advance its agenda.[47][48]

In an interview in April 2016, Blocher stated that United States President Ronald Reagan "was the best president I have seen" and that he thought that, like Reagan, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump would be underestimated but more competent and great than expected.[49] After Trump's election victory, Blocher stated that his victory was a warning to world leaders not to ignore the people's concerns on issues such as immigration, saying "people feel powerless against those who rule them, and for them, Trump is a release valve."[50]

In March 2018, the SVP announced that Blocher would resign as the party's chief strategist, though he would continue to remain involved in Swiss politics.[51][52][53][54]

Public image

Blocher is seen by some political observers as the face of the SVP, and his presence in the party was a major factor in voter turnout among SVP voters.[4] Damir Skenderovic, professor at the University of Fribourg has compared Blocher to Jörg Haider of the Freedom Party of Austria and Alliance for the Future of Austria, to Carl I. Hagen of the Norwegian Progress Party, and to Umberto Bossi of the Italian Lega Nord.[4] According to Steve Bannon, an American right-wing populist political and media figure, Blocher was "Trump before Trump", in reference to United States President Donald Trump, because of his early opposition to the European Union.[55][56][57][58]

Personal life

Blocher is married and has three daughters (Magdalena, Miriam, Rahel), a son (Markus), and twelve grandchildren.[6]

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See also

References
  1. "EMS Company History". EMS-Chemie. 1 January 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  2. Copley, Caroline & Bart, Katharina (1 February 2015). "Right-Wing Firebrand Shakes Up Cosy Swiss Politics". The Star. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  3. "Swiss Right-Wing Icon Blocher Says Will Stay On to Annoy Enemies". reuters.com. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  4. Skenderovic 2009, p. 138.
  5. "Swiss Populist Firebrand Blocher to Step Down". theLocal.ch. 10 January 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  6. "Personal information". Blocher.ch. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  7. "Die offizielle Website von Christoph Blocher". Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  8. Skenderovic 2009, p. 139.
  9. Morrell, Alex (13 December 2013). "Swiss Chemical Conglomerate Mints Three Billionaire Sisters". Forbes.com. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  10. SVP Strongman Blocher Quits Bueaucratic Parliament The Local, 9 May 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014
  11. "Christoph Blocher – Former Member". parlament.ch. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  12. "Geschichte". Campaign for an Independent and Neutral Switzerland official website. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  13. Kuenzi, Renat (15 May 2014). "'We're Not the Only EU Sceptics'". Swissinfo. Retrieved 1 April 2016. Lukas Reimann took over the presidency in April 2014 from 52-year-old Pirmin Schwander, who himself had taken over from Blocher in 2004.
  14. "TimelineJS Embed". Cdn.knightlab.com. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  15. Skenderovic 2009, p. 130.
  16. Troxler, Irène (20 March 2017). "Vom Milchpreis zum Messerstecher-Plakat". Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  17. Skenderovic 2009, pp. 130-131.
  18. Cormon 2014, pp. 46,56.
  19. Skenderovic 2009, p. 129.
  20. Skenderovic 2009, p. 133.
  21. Skenderovic 2009, pp. 138-139.
  22. Skenderovic 2009, p. 147.
  23. Skenderovic 2009, p. 131.
  24. Skenderovic 2009, p. 145.
  25. Skenderovic 2009, pp. 153-156.
  26. Skenderovic 2009, p. 151.
  27. Skenderovic 2009, p. 150.
  28. ": Justiz: Geschichtslektion für Christoph Blocher". Beobachter (in German). Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  29. "Journalistische Unabhängigkeit". Schweizer Presserat (in German). Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  30. "Amtliches Bulletin". www.parlament.ch. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  31. Archived 15 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  32. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 8 December 2003
  33. Tages-Anzeiger, 12 December 2003
  34. Minister accused of involvement in plot, Swissinfo 5 September 2007; Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 6 September 2007
  35. Der geheimste Plan?, WOZ, 6 September 2007
  36. Archived 23 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  37. Goodman, David and Klaus Wille, "Swiss Franc Declines to Three-Week Low Versus Dollar; Hildebrand Will Stay", bloomberg.com, 5 January 2012 11:15 am ET. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  38. Aldrick, Philip, 'Switzerland's central bank chairman denies accusations of insider trading', The Daily Telegraph, 6 January 2012, B1.
  39. Mir, Meritxell, "'Something rotten in Switzerland': Blocher", The Local, 9 January 2012 11:46 GMT+1 as updated. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  40. "Swiss MPs reject far-right leader", BBC News, 12 December 2007. Swiss consensus government falls as rightists quit Archived 3 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, 13 December 2007.
  41. "Maurer joins Blocher in race for cabinet seat". Swissinfo. 27 November 2008. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  42. People's Party Elects New Leader Swissinfo, 1 March 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2014
  43. Archived 20 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  45. Blocher threatens new initiative over immigration The Local, 17 March 2014. Retrieved, 17 March 2014
  46. "Alt Bundesrat Christoph Blocher bleibt an der SVP-Parteispitze - Schweiz - az Aargauer Zeitung". Aargauerzeitung.ch. 3 February 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  47. Siegenthaler, Peter (19 February 2016). "'Our politicians don't do what our people want' - SWI". Swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  48. Kuenzi, Renat (1 March 2016). "Blocher wants a stop to 'initiative deluge' - SWI". Swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  49. Revill, John (12 April 2016). "Swiss People's Party's Christoph Blocher Takes Swipe at SNB's Franc Policy". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  50. Miller, John (9 November 2016). "Swiss Right-Wing's Blocher - Trump Win a Warning to World Establishment". Reuters. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  51. "Swiss Right-Wing Figurehead Christoph Blocher Quits SVP Party Leadership Role". The Local. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  52. "Blocher Steps Down as People's Party Strategist". Swissinfo. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  53. Neuhaus, Christina (6 March 2018). "Ein Blocher Tritt Ab, Eine Blocher Kommt". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  54. Braun, Roger (6 March 2018). "Christoph Blocher Zieht Sich Aus der SVP-Spitze Zurück". Luzerner Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  55. Capodici, Vincenzo (7 March 2018). "Blocher war Trump Vor Trump". Der Bund. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  56. Weingartner, Dominik (6 March 2018). "Stephen Bannon Findet in Zürich Lobende Worte für Christoph Blocher". Luzerner Zeitung. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  57. O'Sullivan, Domhnall (6 March 2018). "Bannon Brings His 'Populist Revolt' to Zurich". Swissinfo. Retrieved 6 March 2018. The revolt in fact began right here, he said. In 1992, when Christoph Blocher ('Trump before Trump') stood alone against the elites to save Switzerland from entry into the EU. He says this is one of the reasons he chose Switzerland as venue for such a speech...
  58. Karnitschnig, Matthew (6 March 2018). "Steve Bannon Populist Roadshow Hits Europe". Politico. Retrieved 6 March 2018. He won over the crowd by praising Swiss politician Christoph Blocher, the former leader of the Swiss People’s Party, for leading the country’s movement against joining the EU in the early 1990s. 'He was Trump before Trump,' Bannon said to applause. 'Your freedom and your prosperity is because of that.'

Bibliography

Further reading
Political offices
Preceded by
Ruth Metzler		 Member of the Swiss Federal Council
2004–2007		 Succeeded by
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf
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