Blocher: "That would be the stupidest thing!"
In an interview with Schweiz am Sonntag, Christoph Blocher vehemently advises Roger Köppel against entering politics and shows interest in further involvement in the media industry.
The outgoing member of the National Council firmly rejects editor-in-chief Patrik Müller's question as to whether Weltwoche publisher Roger Köppel would not be the "most attractive successor" for Blocher's role in the SVP. "He shouldn't be in politics! That would be the stupidest thing!" said Blocher. Köppel would "waste his time" in parliament instead of "playing an important role with his newspaper." After all, he has a political significance outside of it, he said, and would be impoverished in parliament. In addition, Blocher would see a problem if it were suddenly said that Weltwoche was the SVP president's newspaper. "That would not be good. Every newspaper needs a certain breadth."
Later in the interview, Blocher shows interest in expanding his activities as a media entrepreneur. He would like to further "strengthen media diversity" - similar to the Basler Zeitung. The prerequisite for this, he says, is that a newspaper can be made profitable. He is amazed at how the NZZ is suddenly "singing the praises of the regional newspapers," after it had sounded quite different a short time ago. Since the media situation is "better today than it was before," he no longer considers it necessary to launch his own daily newspaper - his topics are "definitely covered" in the newspapers. (SaS/hae)
Photo: Keystone
