Basel Euroairport Exempt From Climate Targets; Basel Loses Bid For Representation In Federal Council; Climate Activists Try Sock Puppet

News For 13 December 2022

A few weeks ago, the canton of Basel Stadt passed, by an overwhelming margin, the Climate Justice Initiative, which called for the reduction of carbon emissions to net zero by 2037.  Industries that are expected to be impacted run the gamut from public transportation, to construction even to the investments the canton is allowed to make.  One entity however, seems to have been exempted at the get-go from compliance with the initiative: Basel Euroairport.  It seems that as the joint property and operating responsibility of France and Switzerland, the will of the people in Basel Stadt will not be imposed on their French neighbors.  Digging deeper, implementation of the referendum mandate will be difficult, as carve-outs for exceptions are already well under way.  For example, the canton has no intention of banning visits by people driving autos with internal combustion engines, despite their non-compliance with the mandate.  

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Switzerland's Federal Council representatives were elected last week, and Basel Stadt's candidate, Eva Herzog, lost her bid for a seat in the Council to Elisabeth Baume-Schneider from the Jura.  Supporters fear that urban Basel continues its decline in influence in the Federal Council. Had she won, she would have been only the third person in the Federal Council from the canton since its inception.  The last time Basel Stadt had representation was in 1960-1973 when Hans-Peter Tschudi held a seat for the canton.

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If you received an email from the Basel Stadt government about a "climate fund" which appeared to come directly from the canton, you should be aware that it comes from a climate activist organization masquerading as the government.  The email, and associated website claim that a 300 million Swiss franc fund has been established to implement the Net Zero climate initiative which voters approved last week.  Only, the government claims that in fact, no such fund exists, and the emails and website have been set up as a ruse to confuse the population about the steps the government is taking in the wake of the climate mandate.  Government spokesman Marco Greiner has indicated that the website hosts have been contacted to take the site down, and has appealed to those perpetrating the hoax to find legal alternatives to expressing their views.