Alain Berset

Alain Berset
Head of the Department of Home Affairs
Assumed office
1 January 2012
Preceded by Didier Burkhalter
Member of the Swiss Federal Council
Assumed office
1 January 2012
Preceded by Micheline Calmy-Rey
Personal details
Born (1972-04-09) 9 April 1972
Fribourg, Switzerland
Political party Social Democratic Party
Spouse(s) Muriel Zeender Berset
Children 3
Alma mater University of Neuchâtel

Alain Berset (born 9 April 1972) is a Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party. Since 1 January 2012, he is a member of the Swiss Federal Council, the seven member Swiss government, and head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (the Swiss interior minister). Before being elected to the Federal Council in December 2011, he was a member of the Swiss Council of States for the Canton of Fribourg since 2003, serving as the chamber's president during the 2008/2009 term.

Personal life and education

Born in Fribourg on 9 April 1972, the son of a teacher and a bookseller,[1] 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.[2]

Berset is married to Muriel Zeender Berset and father of three children. The family lives in Belfaux, a village near Fribourg.[3]

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 till 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.[4] 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,[5] and the party's parliamentary group's vicepresident 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 State Council's vicepresident and served as its president during 2008/2009.[4]

On 14 December 2011, he was elected with 126 votes out of 245 to the Swiss Federal Council, the seven member Swiss government, as one of the Social Democratic Party's two official candidates to succeed head of the Department of Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey, who had resigned from the Federal Council.[6] Berset became head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs as its former head Didier Burkhalter changed to the Department of Foreign Affairs.[7]

Works

Berset is the author of several books and some 30 articles on economic development, migration and regional development.[8]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Hannes Britschgi (18 December 2011). "Glücklich ist nur, wer im Jetzt lebt". Sonntagsblick (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ Claudia Blumer (15 December 2011). "Frau Bundesrat". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  4. 1 2 "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.
  5. ↑ "Alain Berset: Vielleicht diesmal ganz vorne". SR DRS (in German). Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  6. ↑ "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.
  7. ↑ "Burkhalter wird Aussen-, Berset Innenminister". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). 16 December 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  8. ↑ "Alain Berset, Speaker of the Council of States 2008/2009 (SP, FR)". The Federal Assembly - The Swiss Parliament. Retrieved 1 February 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alain Berset.
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
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