Alain Berset

Alain Berset (French pronunciation: ​[alɛ̃ bɛʁse], born 9 April 1972) is a Swiss politician serving as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council since 2012. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS), he has served as head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs since his election.

Alain Berset
President of Switzerland
In office
1 January 2018 – 31 December 2018
Vice PresidentUeli Maurer
Preceded byDoris Leuthard
Succeeded byUeli Maurer
Vice President of Switzerland
In office
1 January 2017 – 31 December 2017
PresidentDoris Leuthard
Preceded byDoris Leuthard
Succeeded byUeli Maurer
Head of the Department of Home Affairs
Assumed office
1 January 2012
Preceded byDidier Burkhalter
Member of the Federal Council
Assumed office
1 January 2012
Preceded byMicheline Calmy-Rey
Personal details
Born (1972-04-09) 9 April 1972
Fribourg, Switzerland
Political partySocial Democratic Party
Spouse(s)Muriel Zeender
Children3
Alma materUniversity of Neuchâtel

From 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018, he served as President of the Swiss Confederation; at age 45, Berset was the youngest officeholder since Marcel Pilet-Golaz in 1934.[1] Before being elected to the Federal Council in 2011, he was a member of the Council of States for the canton of Fribourg (2003–2011), serving as the body's president during the 2008–2009 term. Berset speaks Swiss German, Standard German, French, Italian, Romansh and English.[2][3]

Biography

Personal life

Born in Fribourg on 9 April 1972, the son of a teacher and a bookseller,[4] Berset studied political science and economics at the University of Neuchâtel, where he received a master's degree in political science in 1996 and a Ph.D in economics in 2005 with a dissertation about the role of international migration upon local working conditions.[5]

Berset is married to Muriel Zeender Berset and is the father of three children. The family lives in Belfaux, a village near Fribourg.[6]

Early career

Berset worked as assistant lecturer and researcher at the Institute for Regional Economics of the University of Neuchâtel from 1996 till 2000, when he moved to the Hamburg Institute for Economic Research for a year. In 2000 he became a member of the Constituent Assembly of the canton of Fribourg and president of its social democrat parliamentary group until 2004. He also served on the Belfaux communal parliament from 2001 to 2003. In 2002, he became strategic consultant to the Department of Economic Affairs of the canton of Neuchâtel.[7] In 2003 he was elected to the Swiss Council of States for the canton of Fribourg as a member of the Social Democratic Party becoming the youngest member of the Council of States,[8] as well as the party's parliamentary group's vice president in December 2005. He was also a member of the parliamentary assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. After his reelection in 2007, he was elected the States Council's vice president and served as its president in 2008–2009.[7]

Swiss Federal Council

On 14 December 2011, he was elected with 126 votes out of 245 to the Swiss Federal Council, the seven-member Swiss federal government, as one of the Social Democratic Party's two official candidates to succeed head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Micheline Calmy-Rey, who had resigned from the Federal Council.[9] Berset became head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs as its former head Didier Burkhalter changed to the Department of Foreign Affairs.[10]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland, as head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs, he is one of the leading figures of the government's response.

Works

Berset is the author of several books and some 30 articles on economic development, migration and regional development.[11]

Notes and references
  1. Jaberg, Samuel; Kamel, Dhif (1 January 2018). "Youngest Swiss President in 84 Years Takes Office". Swissinfo. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  2. World Economic Forum (26 January 2018), Press Conference with Swiss President Alain Berset after meeting with US President Donald Trump, The Swiss President will make his statement in German and French but can take questions in English as well.
  3. "Alain Berset elected Swiss president for 2018". The Local. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2018. "It is a great honour and a great responsibility," Berset told parliament after the vote, delivering his message in all four of Switzerland's official languages (German, French, Italian and Romansh).
  4. Hannes Britschgi (18 December 2011). "Glücklich ist nur, wer im Jetzt lebt". Sonntagsblick (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  5. Alain Berset (2005). Transformation des systèmes locaux d'emploi et compétitivité des régions: le rôle des migrations internationales. Thèse de doctorat (in French). Editions Universitaires.
  6. Claudia Blumer (15 December 2011). "Frau Bundesrat". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  7. "Alain Berset. Head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs". Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  8. "Alain Berset: Vielleicht diesmal ganz vorne". SR DRS (in German). Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  9. "Gesamterneuerungswahl des Bundesrates vom 14. Dezember 2011" (in German). Die Bundesversammlung - Das Schweizer Parlament. Archived from the original on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  10. "Burkhalter wird Aussen-, Berset Innenminister". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). 16 December 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  11. "Alain Berset, Speaker of the Council of States 2008/2009 (SP, FR)". The Federal Assembly - The Swiss Parliament. Archived from the original on 15 August 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  • Official biography in English Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA
  • Profile of Alain Berset with election results on the website of the Swiss Federal Council.
  • Alain Berset, Speaker of the Council of States 2008/2009 The Federal Assembly - The Swiss Parliament
  • Biography of Alain Berset on the website of the Swiss Parliament. (French)
  • Main d'oeuvre étrangère et diversité des compétences, Editions Harmattan, Paris 2000
  • Transformation des systèmes locaux d'emploi et compétitivité des régions: le rôle des migrations internationales, thesis for doctorate in economics, Editions Universitaires, Neuchâtel 2005
  • Circulation of Competencies and Dynamics of Regional Production Systems”, International Journal of Multicultural Societies, vol.8, no.1, 2006, pp. 61–83, with O. Crevoisier
  • Changer d'ère, pour un nouveau contrat gouvernemental, Éditions Favre, Lausanne 2007, with C. Levrat
  • “Ciel, le Parlement a démantelé mon projet de loi; les aléas de la phase parlementaire”, in Fluckiger A., Guy-Ecabert C, Guider les parlements et les gouvernements pour mieux légiférer, Edition Schulthess, Zürich 2007 pp. 137–145
Political offices
Preceded by
Christoffel Brändli		 President of the Council of States
2008–2009		 Succeeded by
Erika Forster-Vannini
Preceded by
Micheline Calmy-Rey		 Member of the Swiss Federal Council
2012–present		 Incumbent
Preceded by
Didier Burkhalter		 Head of the Department of Home Affairs
2012–present
Preceded by
Doris Leuthard		 Vice President of Switzerland
2017		 Succeeded by
Ueli Maurer
President of Switzerland
2018
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