The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Health Directors celebrates its hundredth anniversary in Basel. Alain Berset speaks about federalism in health: abroad, he says, he never mentions that he is not the country’s only health minister, and that there are twenty-six others. He pays tribute to the outgoing president, Zurich Councillor of State Thomas Heiniger. Speeches […]
Alain Berset presents the Swiss Theatre Awards at the Théâtre du Crochetan, as part of the 6th Swiss Theatre Meeting. The Swiss Grand Award for Theatre / Hans Reinhart Ring goes to the Geneva performer Yan Duyvendak. He opens with the election of an actor, Volodymyr Zelensky, to the presidency of Ukraine, and with the […]
At the CICG, Alain Berset opens the 18th Congress of the World Meteorological Organization, the WMO’s supreme body, which brings together its 192 member states every four years. He meets the Secretary-General, Petteri Taalas. Geneva, he says, is the ideal place for this congress, at a time when obscurantism is gaining ground, notably with climate […]
The 108th International Labour Conference celebrates the ILO’s centenary. Switzerland chairs it. Alain Berset speaks at a special sitting on behalf of Switzerland, host country and founding member. He recalls the preamble to the ILO Constitution: “Universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice.” He meets the Director-General, […]
Alongside Art Basel, Alain Berset presents the Swiss Art Awards and pays tribute to the winners of the Swiss Grand Award for Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim 2019: the architects Marcel Meili and Markus Peter, the critic Samuel Schellenberg and the artist Shirana Shahbazi. His speech targets the “Rechthaberei” of the digital age: when everyone […]
Alain Berset represents the Federal Council at the 40th anniversary of the Canton of Jura. His speech is a historical account of the Jura Question, later reprinted by Le Temps. He sees in it a Swiss solution, slow and patient: “If the answer to the Jura Question was ‘so very Swiss’, it is because it […]
Alain Berset gives the official 1 August address in Yverdon-les-Bains. He opens with the town’s smoke without fire: the steam of the thermal baths, then the cloud of Expo.02. Then he comes to the theme of the election year, compromise: “Compromises are not only indispensable to our political system. They also show that we are […]
On 7 August, Alain Berset opens the 72nd Locarno Festival. Against Fitzgerald, for whom Switzerland is a country “where very few things begin”, he recalls what began in Locarno: the Czechoslovak New Wave with Miloš Forman in 1964, the debuts of Kathryn Bigelow, Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch. On 8 August, before the media, he stresses […]
The 18th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was to be held in Colombo. After the April attacks in Sri Lanka, it is moved to Geneva. Alain Berset opens it on 17 August on behalf of Switzerland, host country and depositary of the convention. He thanks Sri […]
Alain Berset travels to Gamescom in Cologne, Europe’s major video game fair, with eighteen Swiss developers presented by Pro Helvetia. On 20 August, he opens the SwissGames stand. “Der Bundesrat ist überzeugt: Games gehören zu den prägenden Kulturformen des 21. Jahrhunderts.” He points out that the games industry turns over more than three times as […]
Brought together in Berne by Alain Berset, fourteen Swiss food companies extend the Milan Declaration until 2024. They commit to cutting sugar further: by 10% in yoghurts and by 15% in breakfast cereals. The reduction is extended to other products, and the declaration now also covers salt. Sources Federal Council, press release of 27.08.2019
Alain Berset speaks to Switzerland’s ambassadors and external network, gathered at the Stade de Suisse. Should one cheer on Switzerland, “eine Insel der Stabilität”? Yes, he answers: Switzerland has benefited from the liberal post-war order and must defend it; its stability is the fruit of political effort, not a given. He rereads the country’s history […]
Icons: Icons8