Gaddafi affair: Federal Council and GPK come off badly

According to Der Bund and the Tages-Anzeiger, the GPK report documents the image of a divided government body whose members acted in an uncoordinated manner and overstepped their competencies. The GPK itself is also criticized for appearing helpless when giving advice for the future. The proposed corrections are little more than cosmetic. The commentator in the Basler Zeitung notes that the GPK "appears tame" with "soft-spoken sentences, wadded-up criticism and well-balanced legal explanations". This is annoying, but also understandable, as the diplomatic crisis with Libya is not yet over.

Calmy-Rey should leave after presidential year
The Fribourg newspaper La Liberté is particularly harsh on the Federal Council. The Libya affair is above all a Merz and Calmy-Rey affair. Merz (and Leuenberger) have now resigned, Micheline Calmy-Rey would do well to do the same after her presidential year, the commentator advises. The Tribune de Genève describes Merz as a "public danger". If he were still in office, his resignation would be inevitable. The Geneva daily also has nothing but scorn for Micheline Calmy-Rey. She had worked for herself and against the others. Only by successfully internationalizing the conflict did she secure her election as President of the Swiss Confederation in 2011.
The fact that the head of the FDFA will take over the presidency "is not exactly a promise of improvement", notes Südostschweiz. The report exposes the Federal Council's standard response to the state of affairs in the committee as "whitewashing". The report is "an embarrassment on 98 pages", headlined Blick Online.

As with the UBS crisis
The Libya affair paints the same picture as the UBS affair, notes the St. Galler Tagblatt. In turbulent times, the Federal Council turns out to be a group of lone fighters who distrust each other. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung also draws a comparison with the UBS affair: the ultimately positive result is at odds with the poor management and miserable communication during the crisis. The collegial system with its division of responsibilities is increasingly reaching its limits in extraordinary situations.
The commentator in the AZ-Gesamtausgabe noted that the Federal Council is the most difficult community of fate of all: "Seven alpha animals with equal rights in one body - that's an attempt to square the circle." The permanent experiment usually only becomes problematic when a problem takes on international dimensions.