Before the hospitals, Alain Berset sets out the health trilemma: quality, access, price. He tells of the surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch, who agreed to operate for less than 300 marks but warned that at that price his hands would tremble. Hospitals and clinics are concerned by 28 of the 36 Health2020 measures. He discusses outpatient financing […]
The Balzan Prizes reward both the natural sciences and the humanities. Alain Berset sees in them a bridge between the “two cultures” of C. P. Snow, who asked literary intellectuals to explain the notion of mass: no one could. He notes that since 2001 each prizewinner has given half of the prize to young researchers, […]
The Federal Council adopts the preliminary draft of the reform and sends it out for consultation to the cantons, the parties and the organisations. A comprehensive package: a reference age of 65 in both pillars, flexible transition to retirement, adjustment of the second-pillar conversion rate while maintaining the level of benefits, greater transparency in occupational […]
The FDHA and the FDFA bring together some 180 specialists in domestic violence, female genital mutilation, forced marriage and human trafficking. In Switzerland, domestic violence kills one person every two weeks. A few weeks after Switzerland signed the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention, Alain Berset opens the congress. “Ein Leben ohne Gewalt ist ein Menschenrecht, […]
Following on from the visit to China, Alain Berset receives Zhang Yong, Minister in charge of the China Food and Drug Administration. The two ministers sign a memorandum of understanding with a view to an agreement on medicines, medical devices, foodstuffs and cosmetics, to be concluded in 2014: technical exchanges and institutional dialogue. Sources Federal […]
Alain Berset receives Nenad Rašić. Since 2010, Switzerland has no longer applied to Kosovo the social security agreement concluded with the former Yugoslavia, a decision confirmed by the Federal Supreme Court in June 2013. The two ministers examine the conditions for a new agreement, including the export of benefits, which Kosovar legislation does not yet […]
To mark 50 years of Switzerland’s membership of the Council of Europe, the Federal Office of Culture and the Directorate of International Law devote a day to the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and to the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Alain Berset opens it. The OSCE High Commissioner on National […]
On behalf of the Federal Council, Alain Berset recommends rejecting the initiative “Abortion financing is a private matter”, put to the vote on 9 February 2014. Women facing this decision must not be subjected to the pressure of economic considerations, and the savings targeted are minimal. He recalls that the decriminalisation of abortion and its […]
The ch Foundation brings members of the cantonal governments together in Interlaken for their annual seminar. On the evening of 9 January, Alain Berset speaks at the official dinner. He quotes Aristotle, “das Ganze ist grösser als die Summe seiner Teile”: the formula holds for Switzerland and its twenty-six republics, and he hopes it will […]
Three weeks before the vote of 9 February, Alain Berset defends in Sierre the Federal Council’s position against the initiative seeking to remove the termination of pregnancy from basic health insurance. He calls it “misleading”: the sums at stake represent 0.03% of health insurance expenditure, and premiums would not fall. He also calls it “dangerous”: […]
The first official visit by a Korean head of state since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1963. The Federal Council in corpore welcomes Park Geun-hye with military honours on the Bundesplatz. Alain Berset takes part in the official talks, led by the President of the Confederation, Didier Burkhalter, together with Doris Leuthard and Johann […]
Alain Berset opens the Solothurn Film Festival. He starts with humour: one film in the programme is called “Ueli Maurers Pommes-frites-Automat”; after “Expérience Blocher”, he wondered whether an “Expérience Maurer” was coming to the cinema. The film is about an inventor of the same name. The substance is a plea for cinema as a means […]
Icons: Icons8