The fourth Wheat and Bread Festival, first held in 1978, runs from 15 to 26 August, with the show “Solstices”. Alain Berset attends with Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin and gives the address on the official day. He jokes about the rhythm: bread once every ten years, while the Fête des Vignerons needs twenty years of […]
In Basel, Alain Berset addresses the annual conference of ambassadors and the external network. After seven years at the Federal Department of Home Affairs, he says he brings “a relatively fresh eye” to Swiss diplomacy. What he has heard from his counterparts comes down to three things: reliability, no hidden agenda, a stable commitment. He […]
Alain Berset is the official guest of the 38th Federal Hornussen Festival, in Walkringen (BE). He compares the game to reform in Switzerland: the Federal Council strikes the “Nouss” towards the people and Parliament, and opponents try to knock it down with their boards. “Auch Vorschläge sind Abschläge.” The length of a game is not […]
Alain Berset’s second stay in Lebanon, after the one in 2009 as President of the Council of States. Arrival on 26 August: a visit to Beit Beirut, a former building on the demarcation line turned into a place of memory. On 27 August, a wreath-laying at the Martyrs’ Square monument, then talks in Baabda with […]
At the Federal Palace, Alain Berset receives eight new ambassadors in audience. They present the letters accrediting them to the Federal Council: Jean-Claude Meyer (Luxembourg), Artem Rybchenko (Ukraine), Hisham Alqahtani (Saudi Arabia), Erik Førner (Norway), Karunasena Hettiarachchi (Sri Lanka, resident in Berlin), Refiloe Litjobo (Lesotho, resident in Geneva), Nabijon Kasimov (Uzbekistan, resident in Berlin) and […]
Alain Berset celebrates the 75th anniversary of the SAB, founded in 1943 and funded by donations. He jokes about his own invitation: as health minister, as minister of social insurance, as President of the Swiss Confederation, or simply as a “Landei” from Belfaux? The substance is territorial cohesion. Does growth also benefit regions far from […]
In Lindau, on Lake Constance, Alain Berset takes part in the annual meeting of the health ministers of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. The host: Jens Spahn. Around the table: Beate Hartinger-Klein, Mauro Pedrazzini and, for Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Schmit. Four topics: big data in health, recruiting nursing staff abroad, cancer research, and health literacy […]
Switzerland hosts the annual meeting of the German-speaking heads of state, for the first time since 2012. In the Engadine, Alain Berset and Muriel Zeender Berset receive Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein, King Philippe of Belgium, Alexander Van der Bellen and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, with their spouses. At the dinner on […]
Alain Berset opens the conference that closes the National Programme for the Prevention and Reduction of Poverty 2014–2018. The record: sixteen research reports, seven practical guides, 27 approaches tested. Poverty still affects 7.5% of the population, or 615,000 people, including more than 100,000 children. His speech traces the history: poverty long regarded as a private […]
Alain Berset opens the Images Vevey photography biennial. “Only in the world of photography can one, when invited to give a speech, speak freely of negatives and trials.” With no overhead projector, requisitioned, he says, by Guy Parmelin, he describes seven pictures from memory: the bathers suspended above the lake, a bare tree on a […]
On 11 September, Alain Berset visits the Liberté Living Lab, a Paris start-up hub, then meets OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría at the Château de la Muette: the global economic outlook and transatlantic trade. On the 12th, he visits the Giacometti Institute, opened in June, and the CENTQUATRE. In the afternoon, an official meeting with Emmanuel […]
Seven months after his official visit in February, Filipe Nyusi comes back to see Alain Berset at the Von Wattenwyl House in Berne. A one-to-one meeting, then a working session. He reviews the peace process: an agreement on decentralisation with Renamo in February, a constitutional revision in May, a military agreement in mid-July that opens […]
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