Alain Berset opens the Comptoir Suisse, whose guest of honour is the Swiss National Park. He begins by quoting the speech given at the same place in 1962 by the Vaud Federal Councillor Paul Chaudet, chiselled in a “technical federal language”. He uses it to talk about the role of national fairs in a prosperous […]
At the Lausanne Opera, the FOC presents the Swiss Grand Award for Music for the first time, in the presence of Alain Berset. The winner, chosen from fifteen nominees, is Franz Treichler of the Young Gods; the award carries 100,000 francs. “The most impatient will say: At last! The others will say: There we are.” […]
Alain Berset takes part in the 1,500th anniversary jubilee of the Abbey of Saint-Maurice, founded in 515. He opens with a sonnet by Louise Labé: only a great love, he says, could have given rise to this place. He praises the architecture of the basilica set against the cliff, the teaching of the college and […]
In Bern, Alain Berset opens the 26th conference of the OIE Regional Commission for Europe, bringing together delegates from more than fifty states in Europe and Central Asia. The year is that of the centenary of the Swiss Veterinary Service and of the creation of the FSVO. He stresses the importance of the international alert […]
The people and the cantons reject the initiative “For a public health insurance fund”, with 61.8% voting no. Four French-speaking cantons accept it, led by Jura. The Federal Council, through the FDHA, had recommended rejection: the system of 61 private insurers has proved its worth, and the reforms under way, including the Health Insurance Supervision […]
For the first time, Switzerland, a member of ASEM since 2012, takes part in the meeting of culture ministers from Asia and Europe, devoted to the creative industries. In Switzerland, in 2011, they accounted for more than 260,000 jobs in some 70,000 companies. On the sidelines, Alain Berset holds talks with the Dutch Minister of […]
The Swiss Pension Fund Association asks the question: “Altersvorsorge 2020 – zielführender Weg oder vorprogrammierter Absturz?”. Alain Berset thanks it for the question mark. Before second-pillar specialists, he can, for once, go into the detail without restraint: conversion rate, intervention mechanism, abolition of the coordination deduction, three weeks before the adoption of the dispatch. Speeches […]
Alain Berset takes part in the annual assembly of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education, at the Basel Fair, at a time when several German-speaking cantons are calling into question the early teaching of French. He takes a clear position: if harmonisation is no longer guaranteed, “wird der Bund von seiner subsidiären Kompetenz […]
The new MEG building opens on the evening of 31 October. Alain Berset speaks in the presence of the Peruvian Minister of Culture: the exhibition “Les rois mochica” was born of a collaboration between the two countries. He opens with the ethnologist Marcel Appenzzell, who set off in 1932 to observe the Kubus of Sumatra, […]
The Federal Council adopts the dispatch on the Old-Age Provision 2020 reform and submits it to Parliament. The first and second pillars are reformed together. The main measures: a reference age of 65 for women and men; retirement chosen between 62 and 70, full or partial; adjustment of the minimum conversion rate in occupational pensions, […]
For the first time, a citizen of Jura becomes president of one of the chambers of the Federal Assembly. Alain Berset speaks at the reception for Claude Hêche in Jura: “this day is a historic day”. He recalls the long period of tension that began in 1947 and the role of poets in the emancipation […]
The FDHA brings together some 150 people, including many experts with disabilities, to mark ten years of the Disability Discrimination Act. The motto of the International Day on 3 December: “We too have our say”. Alain Berset makes the participation of people with disabilities a test for Switzerland, “the country where everyone has their say”. […]
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