Alain Berset makes a working visit to Mexico. With the Minister of Culture, María Cristina García Cepeda, he signs two agreements: one on film co-productions, the other on the transfer of cultural property, against illicit trafficking. With the Minister of Education, Aurelio Nuño Mayer, he signs a third agreement, on bicultural schools, at the Swiss […]
Alain Berset speaks at the Swiss Education Day of LCH, the umbrella organisation of teachers. “Ich spreche hier zu Ihnen als einer, der die Schule nur als Schüler kennt.” He takes stock of his year of improbable speeches: a man before the women’s guild, a Catholic on the Reformation in Geneva, the youngest Federal Councillor […]
Alain Berset, Vice-President of the Federal Council, leads the government delegation at the Von Wattenwyl talks with the presidents of the governing parties and of their parliamentary groups. Didier Burkhalter and Federal Chancellor Walter Thurnherr take part. The focus: health and European policy. The parties say they are prepared to support measures against rising costs […]
Alain Berset speaks at the 75th anniversary of Pro Familia Switzerland. “Wenn alle mit 75 noch so aktiv wären wie Pro Familia Schweiz, bräuchte es keine Rentenreform.” He recalls the milestones of family policy: childcare outside the family, maternity insurance, family allowances. He mentions the 100 million approved to reduce the cost of childcare places, […]
MeteoSwiss completes its network of five radars with the station on the Weissfluhgipfel, above Davos. Alain Berset inaugurates it. The network is part of the OWARNA project for warnings of natural hazards. He envies meteorologists: their forecasts are becoming more accurate, while political forecasts are becoming ever less so. “Brexit, Trump, Macron: Alles kam völlig […]
At the invitation of the Ticino association for senior citizens, Alain Berset presents the Old-Age Provision 2020 reform in Lugano, two weeks before the vote. “In Ticino, di solito, ci vengo come ministro della cultura. Non questa volta, però. Oggi sono qui a Lugano come ministro della socialità.” Speeches on this site Prévoyance vieillesse 2020 : […]
At the National Library, Alain Berset opens the exhibition “Rilke and Russia”, a co-production of the German Literature Archive in Marbach, the Swiss Literary Archives, the Strauhof and the State Literary Museum in Moscow. 280 items, including the poet’s address book, which opens with Lou Andreas-Salomé, his companion on the journeys of 1899 and 1900. […]
The people reject the Old-Age Provision 2020 reform, with 52.7% voting no. The VAT increase in favour of OASI ends up neck and neck in the popular vote and fails to win a majority of the cantons. It is the reform Alain Berset has been championing since 2012. Before the press, he acknowledges the result: […]
Alain Berset attends the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair, where France is the guest of honour, with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron. “Francfort en français” presents twelve authors from French-speaking Switzerland. At the City Hall, he signs the city’s Golden Book after the French President, together with the delegations of Luxembourg and the Wallonia-Brussels […]
At the Théâtre Équilibre in Fribourg, Alain Berset presents the Swiss Grand Award for Dance to Noemi Lapzeson, choreographer, founder of Vertical Danse in Geneva and a former soloist with Martha Graham. “Dancing is a political act.” He calls on La Fontaine and the cicada, then on Article 10 of the Constitution: freedom of movement. […]
Alain Berset celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Kartause Ittingen Foundation (TG). He recounts the Federal Council’s 1981 outing: faced with the monks’ rule, Chevallaz advises Ritschard to pray more for his finances; Ritschard replies that Chevallaz should sleep more so as to spend less on the army. “Die Kartause Ittingen verkörpert eine Form der […]
A month after the no vote of 24 September, Alain Berset brings together more than twenty-five parties, social partners and organisations in Berne. For more than two hours, each analyses the result and sets out its vision. The finding: no convergence on the outline of a new reform, but all recognise that one is needed. […]
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