In Basel, Alain Berset presents the Swiss Design Awards, during Art Basel. The Swiss Grand Awards for Design go to the jewellery designer David Bielander, the illustrator Thomas Ott and the graphic designer Jean Widmer. “Design hat die Welt erobert. Plötzlich ist alles Design.” He plays with the word: when the Federal Council lowers the […]
Alain Berset speaks to the assembly of the Association of Swiss Communes. 2,255 communes as at 1 January 2017; he reviews their coats of arms, down to the unicorns of Central Switzerland. “Die Gemeinde, das ist der Ort der Realität.” The substance: ageing — twice as many 80-year-olds in thirty years — and access to […]
The President of the Confederation, Doris Leuthard, receives King Philippe of Belgium for a visit devoted to vocational education and training. Alain Berset, Vice-President of the Federal Council, attends the official dinner. The Belgian delegation includes Deputy Prime Minister Kris Peeters and European Commissioner Marianne Thyssen. Sources Federal Council, press release of 22.06.2017
Alain Berset is the official guest of the Federal Yodelling Festival in Brig-Glis, on the Sunday of the festival. He greets the yodellers in the four national languages, then tries his hand at Upper Valais dialect. He dwells on the motto of the federal association: “Identität durch lebendiges Brauchtum”. Speeches on this site Ouverture de […]
In Berne, Doris Leuthard and Alain Berset receive Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO since 1 July. On the agenda: WHO reform, its role in setting international standards, the 2030 Agenda and the priorities of Switzerland’s health foreign policy. Sources Federal Council, press release of 04.07.2017
On the eve of 1 August, Alain Berset inaugurates the wooden tower of the new theatre on the Julier Pass. He reads it as a metaphor for Switzerland: ten fragile towers which together make one solid one — a “soziales Tragwerk”. Openness to the world is not a fixed state, he says, but the awareness […]
Alain Berset is the National Day speaker in Rorschach (SG). He takes stock of the traditions of St Gallen, from embroidery to the OLMA and its sausage, to show their strength in a digital world. His closing line starts from the Rorschach lido, the “Sozibad”, where mixed bathing once caused a scandal: today, left and […]
Alain Berset is the official 1 August speaker in Lausanne, at the Place de la Navigation in Ouchy, alongside the Mayor, Grégoire Junod. He arrives by boat across the lake. He opens with Éric Cantona: “I don’t play against a particular team. I play to fight against the idea of losing.” The footballer’s name, he […]
Alain Berset opens the 70th edition of the Locarno Festival on the Piazza Grande. He goes back to 1946, the year of “Notorious” and “La Belle et la Bête”: after Venice, two “water towns” take up the cause, Cannes and Locarno. The next day, before the press, he reviews a bumper year for Swiss cinema […]
Alain Berset gives the opening speech of the Lucerne Festival in Summer, whose theme is identity. He starts with a quip: normally, the Federal Council would hand such a question to a working group. Then comes an essay on Swiss identity, a nation that constantly reinvents itself: “Wir sind kein Volk MIT Minderheiten – wir […]
Alain Berset gives the keynote speech at the Congress of the Swiss Abroad in Basel, before nearly 400 participants. “Switzerland doesn't lose anything if its citizens go and live in another country, on the contrary,” he says, according to swissinfo. He makes fun of the clichés — cows, chocolate, watches — and of what would […]
In Berne, Alain Berset and Mauro Pedrazzini sign the agreement announced in January. Residents of Liechtenstein, Graubünden and St Gallen will be able to receive outpatient treatment in the other country, paid for by compulsory health insurance. Costs will be reimbursed only up to the tariff of the country of residence. The agreement still has […]
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