Board of the Friends of the Constitution remains capable of acting and is committed to the interests of the members

Contrary to claims to the contrary by colleagues who have resigned, and also to certain widely held opinions, the Executive Committee of the Friends of the Constitution is fully capable of acting. We are pushing ahead with the agreed projects - especially the support for the Giacometti and the sovereignty initiative - full of verve and are committed to the interests of our members. 

Communication

In the newsletter of Sunday, 13 November 2022 you were informed about the resignation of the board members Prisca Guanter, Christina Rüdiger, Agnès Aedo, Sandro Meier and Oliver Martin. You were also informed that the Board was no longer capable of acting due to these resignations and that the Association might have to be dissolved. On 15 November 2022 we already made a first correction. We would like to inform you transparently and at regular intervals from now on.

Capacity to act

First of all, we want to make it clear: we are capable of acting! It is true that after the resignation of the aforementioned board members, the board now consists of only three members. However, a temporary shortage of members does not restrict the activities of the association and is certainly not a reason to dissolve the association. According to legal information and valid case law, an association is capable of acting even if the board is temporarily smaller than provided for in the statutes. We of the remaining Board of Directors therefore remain fully active.  capable of acting. By the way: dissolving the association is out of the question for us - but of course the general meeting as the highest body of the association would decide on this. Until then, we will in any case carry out all our tasks as we have received them in trust.

There are now various possibilities for further action - we will report on them below as well as in our further letters.

Our internal tasks

We now have some internal tasks ahead of us, which we will tackle. The following steps were discussed at yesterday's board meeting and are now planned: 

• we will consider how to bring the board back to the size of at least 5 people required by the statutes. One option would be new elections or an extraordinary general meeting. Another way would be the co-option (the temporary appointment of board members until the next election/MG). Another option would be to hold an ordinary general meeting as early in the year as possible to confirm and/or re-elect the board.
• As already started last Wednesday, we will actively enter into exchange with our regional leaders. The most important point here is to better identify the concerns and to support the individual regions in the best possible way - also financially, if necessary. Such meetings should take place at regular intervals. 
• We are planning a forum where regional leaders, active members of the association and possibly also people from other organisations can get involved to talk about basic things about our association. This should take place in a physical setting, we are thinking of a date in early 2023.
• We will ask people if they would like to come to our board meetings as support. They should also have a say. This will ensure that a broad opinion is represented on the board. 

We are convinced that the management of the association will thus continue to be guaranteed and a dissolution should no longer be an issue.

Full Commitment to the rule of law and fundamental rights 

Apart from our internal tasks, we are moving forward with our adopted issues: we continue to campaign for the interests of our members with high motivation and full vigour: this includes in particular the active support of the Giacometti and the sovereignty initiatives. We also do not want to lose sight of the cantonal child protection initiatives. We are in active contact with all the initiators and the friendly civil rights movements and will report on this again shortly.

All initiatives are in line with the core concerns of the Friends of the Constitution and deserve our firm commitment. This remains eminently important, as the parliament has acquired a taste for the pandemic and continues to brazenly resort to emergency law and arbitrary measures that violate our fundamental rights, albeit currently with the (alleged?) energy crisis as a hook. This is what we are fighting against - and above all thanks to your membership and your fearless commitment!

With this in mind, we hope you will trust us to do everything in our power to guide the Friends of the Constitution back on track and return the main energy to the core issues. If you have any questions, we will be happy to take the time to answer them as openly and honestly as possible. Otherwise, we will report on the progress of our work again soon. Thank you for your support!

The indefatigable Board of Directors.