At Sechseläuten, Alain Berset is the guest of the Gesellschaft zu Fraumünster, the women’s guild of Zurich. “Ich stehe hier als Mann vor der Frauenzunft. Das ist natürlich nicht ganz einfach.” As minister responsible for equality and culture, he nevertheless feels he belongs there: living traditions fall within his department. Speeches on this site Sechseläuten : […]
Alain Berset opens the Geneva Book and Press Fair. He starts from a short story by Dezső Kosztolányi: a thief turned translator makes the objects of the original text disappear from his translations. The danger, he says, is the disappearance of words, which “leads to the impoverishment of ideas”. We must read and nurture the […]
The United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) meets in Switzerland. Alain Berset, Vice-President of the Federal Council, hosts a dinner in Montreux in honour of Secretary-General António Guterres and the heads of the UN organisations. A brief bilateral meeting precedes the dinner.
Alain Berset speaks at the presentation of the Salzburger Stier, the cabaret award of the German-language public radio stations. “Und die Schweiz? Uns kann das alles nicht erschüttern. Wir waren schon immer postfaktisch.” The age of fake news, he says, is nothing new for a country that still sees itself as Heidi on the alpine […]
At the invitation of Mauro Pedrazzini, the health ministers of Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Switzerland meet in Vaduz. They discuss the shift from acute inpatient care to outpatient care for the chronically ill, medication safety — on average seven medicines per nursing home resident in Switzerland, against a recommended maximum of five — and […]
Alain Berset speaks at the Forum des 100, shortly after the closure of L’Hebdo, the magazine that organised it. He regrets its loss: L’Hebdo opened French-speaking Switzerland to the world. His subject: digitalisation in health. Between the promise of limitless progress and the fear of misery “worthy of that of the industrial revolution”, he argues […]
Alain Berset inaugurates the Swiss Pavilion at the 57th Venice Art Biennale. The curator Philipp Kaiser, the artist Carol Bove and the duo Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler investigate an absence: Alberto Giacometti never agreed to represent Switzerland in Venice. The pavilion, he says, is an artistic embassy: here Switzerland practises a subtle form of […]
At the Europa Forum in Lucerne, Alain Berset gives one of the major speeches of the year. He starts from the cliché of a boring Switzerland: “Wir arbeiten hart an unserer Langeweile!” Stability comes from movement: debating without holding back, then coming together again. The capacity for reform is his answer to the West’s identity […]
Alain Berset addresses the congress of the SBK-ASI. He opens with Little Red Riding Hood and the grandmother’s big ears: ears keep growing throughout life. The substance: ageing and the shortage of care staff. 40,000 more professionals are needed by 2025, 70% of them in long-term care. He also defends the Old-Age Provision 2020 reform, […]
In Geneva, Alain Berset opens the 70th World Health Assembly. What is at stake in the session: the election of Margaret Chan’s successor at the head of WHO — Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is elected on 23 May — and the 2018-2019 budget. His speech starts from the motto in the dome of the Federal Palace, […]
For the first time, the Swiss Theatre Awards are presented in Ticino, at LAC Lugano, at the opening of the 4th Swiss Theatre Meeting. Alain Berset presents the Grand Award to the Graubünden actress Ursina Lardi. He speaks in Italian, German, Romansh and French. He recalls that the winner comes from a small valley, Val […]
Margaret Chan, who is stepping down as head of WHO after ten years, pays a farewell visit to Berne, where Alain Berset receives her.
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