Welcome to Alain Berset’s personal website. He has been Secretary General of the Council of Europe since 2024; his speeches, news and agenda are gathered here. Before Strasbourg, Alain Berset was a member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2012 to 2023 and President of the Swiss Confederation in 2018 and again in 2023. He had previously been a member of the Council of States (Senate) from 2003 to 2011 and President of the Council of States in 2008-2009.
News
“Peace founded on justice is a choice” – Alain Berset in Bern
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, called on Wednesday for joint efforts to strengthen Europe’s common legal space, at a...
Local democracy is Europe’s early warning system – Alain Berset
Democratic security as a response to street protests across Europe, the young driving change, reforming the Council of Europe to make it fit for...
Press
- Alain Berset : l’accumulation des crises “détruit les perspectives” des jeunes
- Alain Berset si congratula con la Lista degli studenti serbi
- «Contro il disagio sociale la sola sicurezza non basta: serve un patto generazionale»
- Council of Europe warns Georgian authorities ahead of review of request to ban five opposition parties
- Protests in Europe and Albania, Council of Europe Secretary General reacts
Agenda
Swiss Parliament’s Foreign Policy Day
28 October 202651st Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
27 October 2026International meeting of the European Coalition against drugs, San Patrignano
23 October 2026
Speeches
51st Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
27 October 2026 — Strasbourg · Two days ago, young people in Serbia did what many said was impossible. They turned protest into a majority. Next Sunday, it will be two years since a railway canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, killing sixteen people.
High-level international meeting on prevention and recovery from addictions organised by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Italy
23 October 2026 — San Patrignano, Italy · As we speak, somewhere in Europe, a container arrives in a port with drugs hidden in its cargo. A customs officer is offered a bribe to look the other way. A thirteen-year-old is recruited on social media to sell drugs.
Latest video
La démocratie serait-elle malade en Europe et aux Etats-Unis ? Interview d’Alain Berset (vidéo)
28 October 2026InterviewCouncil of Europe10 minInterview — Forum, RTS. In French.
Source: Forum, RTS · Watch on the source site
Always committed to human rights, democracy and the rule of law, as Secretary General of the Council of Europe, I have made the Reykjavík Declaration the compass of my commitment to our shared values and to the benefit of the people living on our continent.
Signing ceremony with Moldovan President Maia Sandu during her official visit to Switzerland. Photo: Keystone
Exchange with students at the University of Lausanne during the state visit of President Emmanuel Macron to Switzerland, 16 November 2023. Photo: FDFA
Discussion with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Granada. Photo: Keystone
Official meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa. Photo: Office of the Prime Minister
At the WEF in Davos with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, 17 January 2023. Photo: Keystone
Exchange with UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the UN Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai. Photo: COP28