A visit to the Grand Duchy. On 25 June, Alain Berset holds talks with Prime Minister Xavier Bettel. The two countries are alike: multilingualism, a financial centre, a high share of foreign residents (48% in Luxembourg, 25% in Switzerland) and many cross-border commuters. They discuss European policy, the Swiss bilateral approach, Brexit and a common […]
At the Bürgenstock, Alain Berset celebrates the centenary of Suva, the country’s first social insurance. “Die SUVA – das ist die Schweiz im Kleinen.” He recounts the quarrels of its early days, down to the names of its branch offices, and draws from them a thesis on labour peace: solutions that excite no one but […]
Alain Berset and Muriel Zeender Berset host the ambassadors accredited to Switzerland for the annual excursion of the diplomatic corps, in the President’s home canton. Ignazio Cassis attends. First stop: a farm in Bösingen, a refuge for barn owls. The ornithologist Alexandre Roulin, of the University of Lausanne, presents the project “Barn Owls Know No […]
Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, receives Alain Berset at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. After a photo in front of the statue of Coubertin, the two presidents hold a one-to-one meeting, then a wider meeting with Jürg Stahl, President of Swiss Olympic, Vaud State Councillor Philippe Leuba and the Mayor of Lausanne, Grégoire Junod. […]
In Bulle, Alain Berset speaks at the Federal Drum and Fife Festival, a festive competition held only every four years. Before him: the President of the National Council, the Fribourg government, the Bulle authorities and the clubs from all over Switzerland, up since four in the morning. He starts from a remark attributed to Jean-Pascal […]
Hassan Rouhani returns the visit made to Tehran in 2016 by Johann Schneider-Ammann. The two presidents first meet one-to-one on the evening of 2 July, joined later by Ignazio Cassis and Mohammad Javad Zarif. On the morning of the 3rd, they jointly open a Swiss-Iranian innovation and industry forum on health and food, organised by […]
The President of the Swiss Confederation takes the Federal Council to his home canton. The first day is spent in the Gruyère. In Bulle, coffee at the restaurant of the SucréSalé cooperative, which helps disability insurance (IV/AI) recipients back into work; then a meeting with young rock and metal labels at the Ébullition cultural centre, […]
An official visit to strengthen contacts at the highest political level with one of Switzerland’s five main trading partners south of the Sahara. On the evening of arrival, a meeting with Kenyan artists at the GoDown Arts Centre in Nairobi. On 9 July, official talks with Uhuru Kenyatta at State House: the fight against corruption, […]
On the eve of 1 August, Alain Berset speaks twice in the canton of Fribourg. In the morning, on the Oberer Euschels alp, in the municipality of Jaun, in French and German. In the evening, in Belfaux, his home municipality. The thread is the same as at the Rütli the next day: the 1848 Constitution, […]
On 1 August, Alain Berset is the speaker at the Rütli celebration, organised by the Swiss Society for the Common Good (SGG/SSUP) on the theme of cohesion. Some 1,300 guests. He defends compromise as the foundation of Swiss success, and the balance between economic and social needs, the country’s “eigentliche Geheimformel”. Without equal opportunities in […]
On the evening of 1 August, Alain Berset opens the 71st festival at the Scuola Magistrale, after Mayor Alain Scherrer and State Councillor Manuele Bertoli, then attends the first screening on the Piazza Grande. His speech, in three languages, celebrates the 50 years of the Leopard, created in 1968 by the sculptor Remo Rossi, and […]
The canton of Fribourg is guest of honour at the 115th Marché-Concours in Saignelégier. Alain Berset speaks as President of the Swiss Confederation and as a Fribourgeois, before the Jura government, Fribourg State Councillors and the President of the National Council. He recalls that the Jura joined the Confederation on 1 January 1979, by Federal […]
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