Berset was born in Fribourg on 9 April 1972, the elder of two children, to Michel Berset, a teacher at the commercial and industrial school of Fribourg, and Solange Berset (née Angéloz; b. 1952), a bookseller.[9] He was raised in a political family. His maternal grandfather, François Angéloz, was among the first municipal presidents of the Social Democratic Party, in the predominantly conservative Fribourg.[10]
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 PhD in economics in 2005 with a dissertation about the role of international migration upon local working conditions.[11]
Berset is married to Muriel Zeender Berset and is the father of three children. The family lives in Belfaux, a village near Fribourg.[12]
Early career
Berset worked as an 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 a strategic consultant to the Department of Economic Affairs of the canton of Neuchâtel.[13]
Member of the Council of States
In 2003 he was elected to the Swiss Council of States from the canton of Fribourg as a member of the Social Democratic Party becoming the youngest member of the Council of States,[14] 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 (OSCE). Following his reelection in 2007, he was elected the States Council's vice president in 2007–2008; he subsequently served as the body's president in 2008–2009.[13]
Member of the Federal Council
2018 Swiss Federal CouncilBerset with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Davos in 2018
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland, as head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs, he was one of the leading figures in the government's response to the crisis. Following an interview with Berset, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) wrote, "there were moments during the first wave when he no longer knew whether it was day or night, weekday or weekend. He said he had never experienced anything like that before".[17]
On 1 January 2022, Berset became again Vice-President of the Federal Council, under President Ignazio Cassis; on 7 December 2022, he was elected President, succeeding Cassis on 1 January 2023.[18]
On 21 November 2020, the weekly Die Weltwoche revealed, from the pen of the former Zürich SVP/UDC national councillor Christoph Mörgeli, that Berset was the victim of an attempted blackmail the previous year. A woman, since convicted in criminal proceedings, allegedly tried to extort 100,000 Swiss francs from him by threatening to publish photographs and private messages that they had exchanged.[21] The political world seized the case;[22] the Supervisory Authority of the Public Ministry of the Confederation (MPC) opened an investigation to verify that the Federal Councillor did not benefit from favours in the treatment of his complaint.[23]
In September 2021, while the health policy followed by the Federal Council to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic was contested and Alain Berset criticized, the case bounced back: a controversy broke out over the use of a vehicle of representation during an escapade with the woman, on the use of state collaborators to settle the attempt of blackmail, in particular by sending the Task Force TIGRIS of the Federal Judicial Police at the home of the person concerned, as well as on the limits between respect for the private life invoked by the magistrate and the public interest.[24][25][26][27][28][29]
On 14 June 2022, Berset was cleared in a parliamentary investigation into the alleged abuse of state resources.[30]
Works
Berset is the author of several books and some 30 articles on economic development, migration, and regional development.[31]
^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.
^"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).
^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.
^Claudia Blumer (15 December 2011). "Frau Bundesrat". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
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
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