Eveline may re-elect to cabinet

ZURICH: Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, who played a key role in the bailout of UBS and is pushing tough bank capital standards, may be re-elected to the cabinet after national polls later this year, a paper reported on Sunday.

Widmer-Schlumpf is at risk of losing her seat in the multi-party, consensus-based government after the right-wing SVP expelled her. She has since formed the moderate-conservative BDP.

But politicians of various affiliations are now in talks about backing the generally well-regarded minister for another term, in part to guarantee a majority for an exit from nuclear power, the SonntagsZeitung reported.

Members of the pro-business FDP, the Christian Democrats (CVP), the Socialist SP and the Greens were behind her, the paper said.

"With the BDP councillor in government you can ensure the course of exiting nuclear power," the paper quoted SP-parliamentarian Andy Tschuemperlin as saying. "I'll vote for her."

The Swiss cabinet decided on May 25 to scrap plans to build nuclear reactors after the disaster at Japan's Fukushima plant shook public confidence in the industry.

Parliament still needs to vote on the matter.

"Widmer-Schlumpf needs to stay in the government," the paper quoted FDP MP Tarzisius Caviezel as saying.

Switzerland holds national polls on Oct. 23 and the right-wing SVP is seen as hanging on to its lead as the biggest party in the lower house of parliament. The cabinet will be reconstituted after the election.

In 2009 the US government agreed to drop tax-evasion charges against UBS, after Switzerland promised it would transfer the details of around 4,450 clients who UBS had helped dodge tax, lifting the veil on the Alpine state's cherished banking secrecy.

After UBS had to take state aid during the financial crisis, the Swiss government is pushing tough capital standards for big banks that would go beyond the new Basel III global rules.

Copyright Reuters, 2011