On 21 June, Alain Berset meets the German Federal Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, for a working meeting, the first since their 2020 meeting in Geneva. On the agenda: the two countries’ vaccination campaigns and the distribution of vaccines worldwide, the COVID certificate, new variants, international cooperation and strengthening the WHO in preparing for and […]
The easing steps of April and May have not revived the epidemic; half of all adults will be vaccinated by the end of June. The Federal Council goes further than what it had put out for consultation. From 26 June, the obligation to work from home and to wear masks outdoors is lifted; restaurants no […]
At the Bernerhof, the President of the Confederation, Guy Parmelin, brings together the presidents of the parties and parliamentary groups and the leadership of the Conference of Cantonal Governments, then the social partners. With him are Alain Berset, Ueli Maurer and the Federal Chancellor, Walter Thurnherr. Ueli Maurer presents the financial consequences of the crisis; […]
The Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival celebrates its twentieth edition and its audience returns. Alain Berset opens it with praise for “Gagamboy”, Erik Matti’s Filipino Spider-Man, an ice-cream seller bitten by a contaminated spider, once screened at the festival. Behind the humour, the title the administration gave the address: “Resist and adapt to survive”. Genre […]
The FIFF, postponed from March to July, opens its 35th edition. Alain Berset greets the “Friends of the nights, friends of the notes”: after a Felliniesque 34½th edition in 2020, the festival offers one “à la Demy”, under the sign of music. He extends the musical metaphor to speak of audiences returning to cinemas after […]
1 August speech, whose French version is given in the evening in Gruyères. Alain Berset draws a first assessment of eighteen months of pandemic: “Unsere vielbeschworene Solidarität wurde in den letzten 18 Monaten wirklich getestet. Und wir haben diesen Test bestanden.” The crisis is not over, but society emerges stronger “trotz hitziger Debatten und viel […]
On 4 August, on the Piazza Grande, Alain Berset opens the first festival since the 2020 cancellation. He quotes D. W. Griffith, who predicted in 1924 that cinema would eliminate all conflict: the prophecy is running late, but summer 2021 will at least have driven the pandemic from people’s minds. The edition celebrates films shot […]
Alain Berset opens the digital cultures festival in Yverdon-les-Bains. He addresses the “friends of algorithms and pixels” and claims, with scientific method in support, to trace the link between the spa town and video games back to the menhirs of Clendy bay. The point: digital technology, first a matter of science, has become a culture […]
The new building of the Comédie, in Eaux-Vives, is inaugurated after months of closed theatres. Cost: 94 million francs, 45 million of it borne by the canton. Speakers include Councillor of State Thierry Apothéloz, Administrative Councillor Sami Kanaan and the directors, Natacha Koutchoumov and Denis Maillefer. Alain Berset opens with the last line of Caligula: […]
Princess Marie of Liechtenstein, wife of Prince Hans-Adam II, died in August. Alain Berset represents the Federal Council at the funeral service in Vaduz, attended by several European royal families. He offers his condolences to the princely family. In the evening, he is in Geneva for the inauguration of the Comédie. Sources Presseportal (Government of […]
The Italian presidency invites Switzerland, as in the previous year. The ministers address management of the pandemic, access for all countries to vaccines, tests and treatments, a lasting commitment to pandemic prevention and the effect of the crisis on the 2030 Agenda. Alain Berset defends a strong WHO at the centre of preparedness and response. […]
The Swiss Statistics Days are held in Lugano under the title “Data: from all, for all?”. Alain Berset: “Die Corona-Krise hat uns eines gelehrt: Bescheidenheit. Gerade auch in Bezug auf Prognosen.” The world will be even more volatile, from climate to migration, from inequality to the culture wars flaring up around identity or vaccination. Hence […]
Icons: Icons8