At the Federal Palace, Alain Berset closes the annual meeting of the Conference of European National Librarians. He opens, in English, with a sentence by Hilary Mantel: “I once stole a book. It was really just the once, and at the time I called it borrowing.” The book the novelist had kept had not been […]
Avenches, the Roman Aventicum, opens four days of celebrations for its two thousandth anniversary. Alain Berset inaugurates the “2000 Years Promenade”, a pedestrian route through the town, and speaks at the official ceremony. He salutes the first known administrative capital of the country and calculates that a two-thousand-year-old commune would be entitled to twenty centenarian’s […]
At the Geneva International Conference Centre, Alain Berset opens, on behalf of the host state, the 17th Congress of the WMO (25 May – 12 June). “To ensure sustainable development, the global community needs reliable information on the state of the climate and the changes under way.” He pays tribute to the outgoing Secretary-General, Michel […]
Before the Swiss Institute of International Studies, Alain Berset speaks about the Swiss relationship with their history. The country knows how to unite opposites: “Wir sind Mythomanen und Mythen-Zertrümmerer.” Dada, the anti-bourgeois avant-garde, opened its gallery on the Paradeplatz in 1917. But when it comes to history, the political culture of compromise and the media […]
At the Winterthur Theatre, Alain Berset presents the Swiss Grand Award for Theatre / Hans Reinhart Ring to Stefan Kaegi, of the Rimini Protokoll collective. His speech plays with the winner’s method, which blurs the boundary between stage and audience: it is not impossible, he says, that he will begin this speech as a Federal […]
Alain Berset meets four members of the European Commission. With Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, responsible for the euro and social dialogue: an overview of relations between Switzerland and the EU, and Swiss social partnership. With Vytenis Andriukaitis, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety: cooperation in public health, in particular the coordinated fight against antibiotic resistance, and […]
At the Liberal Professions Day, Alain Berset congratulates the Swiss Union of Liberal Professions on its fiftieth anniversary: he himself, he says, practises a non-liberal profession, where decisions are taken collegially. He recalls that in 1885 the head of the FDHA wanted to buy two typewriters; the Federal Council authorised only one. The Union, he […]
Alain Berset speaks at the celebration of INTERPRET, the Swiss association for community interpreting and intercultural mediation. His theme: “Das Dazwischen wird unterschätzt.” The in-between is a bridge, a cement, a pass between two players. Switzerland, he says, is not only a nation of will, but “eine Nation der Übersetzerinnen und Übersetzer”. Speeches on this […]
The people and the cantons approve the amendment to the constitutional article on medically assisted reproduction. It paves the way for preimplantation genetic diagnosis, which the law prohibited, for couples carrying a serious hereditary disease and for infertile couples. Alain Berset, who had presented the proposal on 23 March, comments on the result at a […]
At the opening of Art Basel, Alain Berset presents the Swiss Art Awards; this year the Federal Office of Culture names eleven winners in art and eighteen in design. He starts from the booming art market: one of Monet’s Water Lilies paintings has just sold for 54 million. “Man könnte meinen, monetarisieren komme von ‘Monet’.” […]
Alain Berset receives in Berne Josef Ostermayer, Austrian Minister of Arts, Culture, Constitution and Media. They discuss artistic exchanges, film cooperation and Switzerland’s participation in the MEDIA and Creative Europe programmes. They want to institutionalise a regular exchange on cultural policy. The next day, in Basel, the two ministers visit the LISTE fair and Art […]
The Federal Commission against Racism is twenty years old, as is the criminal-law provision against racial discrimination. Together with Alain Berset, it launches the campaign “Une Suisse à nos couleurs”, against racism and discrimination on the Internet, with a platform entrusted for six months to young people, associations and companies. “It is also thanks to […]
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