The President of the Swiss Confederation Alain Berset, who embodied the fight against the pandemic in Switzerland at the head of the Ministry of Health, created a surprise on Wednesday 21 June by announcing that he would leave his government functions at the end of the year.
The 51-year-old socialist, who played an important role in the recent Credit Suisse bailout and also succeeded in raising the retirement age for women to 65 last year, has been a member of the federal government since 2012. "It's the right time to leave," he said at a press briefing.
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I have informed the Federal Council that I plan to leave the government at the end of this year," Berset said. "I feel like I've accomplished what's possible. I gave everything," said the president, who is the youngest and most popular member of the Federal Council, the Confederation's collegial government of seven ministers.
Spirit of compromise
The seats of the federal executive are divided between the main parties in application of a "magic formula" that has evolved over time but makes it possible to cultivate the spirit of compromise marked by Swiss democracy. The Swiss will go to the polls on 23rd October to renew the 200 seats in the National Council - the lower house - and 45 of the 46 seats in the Council of States, which represents the Swiss cantons. When asked what he is going to do, Alain Berset jokes: "Someone told me that today was yoga day. Maybe we need to start yoga."
More seriously, he indicated that "there is no plan in fact" because if the decision not to run for a position of Federal Councillor was obvious, he said he did not have time to think about the aftermath. Alain Berset has regularly made the headlines for "cases", the last concerning leaks of confidential information in the press. However, he denies feeling pressure after an investigation was opened by Parliament's management committees.
'Enormous pressure'
At the controls of a pleasure plane, he had also been intercepted by the French authorities following a communication problem. This case had revealed his passion, theft. But he assured Wednesday that these "affairs" played no role in his decision to resign. Returning to his role during the fight against the Covid pandemic, he said he had "been under enormous pressure" even if his measures have repeatedly won the support of the population during popular votes, the latest dating back to Sunday.
But at the height of the crisis, he was threatened with death and placed under police protection, something extremely rare in Switzerland. "I would never have imagined such violence," he said. Since January, he has held the position of President of the Confederation for the second time, a post that rotates for one year and that Federal Councillors combine with their ministry. It is the current Minister of Defence and Sport, Viola Amherd, of the Centre Party, who will replace him for 2024.