Some 140 members of executive bodies and specialists gather for the third National Meeting on equal pay in the public sector. Alain Berset invites cantons and communes to sign the Charter for Equal Pay: twelve cantons and 24 cities have done so, representing two thirds of the population. In the public sector, women earn on […]
Alain Berset opens the 23rd edition of the Geneva festival, which this year swaps the name Festival tous écrans for GIFF. He makes light of it: “Personally, I have nothing against Shakespeare”, but all the same, coming from the homeland of Rousseau “and very nearly of Voltaire”. Speeches on this site Ouverture du Geneva International […]
Alain Berset speaks in Professor Adrian Vatter’s course on Swiss politics at the University of Berne, six weeks after the defeat of Old-Age Provision 2020. His point: in a direct democracy, reforms are slow, but they last. Elsewhere, things move faster, and are sometimes reversed. Speeches on this site Université de Berne : réforme et démocratie […]
Doris Leuthard receives Jean-Claude Juncker in Berne, accompanied by Federal Councillors Alain Berset and Ignazio Cassis. Both sides take a positive view of the year and confirm the bilateral approach. Switzerland and the EU sign the agreement linking their CO2 emissions trading systems. Sources Federal Council, press release of 23.11.2017
Alain Berset speaks at the cantonal health day organised by the Republic and Canton of Jura. The theme: the future of public health in the face of innovation, digitalisation and big data. He starts from Benjamin Franklin: the only certainties are death and taxes. Then he moves on to the electronic patient record. Speeches on […]
In Zurich, Alain Berset speaks at the Churchill Europe Symposium, which commemorates Churchill’s 1946 speech. He opens with the two busts of Churchill at the White House — one of them a copy — and the two Churchills invoked by supporters and opponents of the EU. His thesis: democracy must be defended against the populism […]
The Federal Assembly elects Alain Berset President of the Confederation for 2018, with 190 votes out of 210 valid ballots. Ueli Maurer is elected Vice-President. In his address, in French, Italian, Romansh and German, he announces a collegial presidency, together with the six other members of the government. He sets out his line: “Wir sind […]
On 7 December, UNESCO inscribes the Basler Fasnacht on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The following evening, the Basel government and the Fasnachts-Comité thank some 550 people who worked on the nomination; Alain Berset is their guest. He pretends to breach official secrecy: the Federal Council’s discussion of the nomination supposedly took […]
The Geneva Council of State receives Alain Berset, President-elect of the Confederation, and the government of Uri, guest of honour of the Escalade. They watch the historical procession of the Compagnie de 1602. His speech breaks the Escalade down into three elements: the ladder, the mask, the cauldron. He draws a comparison as a Fribourgeois: […]
The canton of Fribourg celebrates its President-elect. Before Doris Leuthard and the federal and cantonal authorities, Alain Berset recalls that this is the third time Fribourg has welcomed him in this way: in 2008 for the presidency of the Council of States, in 2011 for his election to the Federal Council. He speaks of the […]
Alain Berset, its patron, launches the Swiss part of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 in Berne. He announces a conference of European culture ministers in Davos on building culture, in January, with a “Davos Declaration”. “Wer sind wir?” Clichés are perfect for conversation, he says, and we cheat a little: Heidi was invented […]
The National Conference comes to a close. Social partners, cantons, organisations of people with disabilities, insurers and doctors adopt a joint declaration: integration into the labour market is a task for society as a whole, and the wish of people with disabilities to work must be heard. Alain Berset opens the day with Swiss pragmatism: […]
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