2023-07-16 06:06:54
Franco-Swiss relations
Emmanuel Macron will visit Alain Berset
The French president is expected in Bern from November 15 to 16. A timely visit for the departing President of the Confederation, reports the “NZZ am Sonntag”.
PostedJuly 16, 2023, 8:06 AM
Emmanuel Macron and Alain Berset on June 22 in Paris during the Summit for a new global financial pact.
AFP
Emmanuel Macron will come to Bern on November 15 and 16, reports the NZZ on Sunday of the day. Marc Ferracci, deputy of the French from Switzerland and Liechtenstein announced the visit of the French president Thursday evening during a reception at the French embassy in Bern on the occasion of the French National Day. The last state visit by a French president dates back eight years. Macron’s predecessor, François Hollande, visited Switzerland from April 15 to 16, 2015.
Confirming the information, Christian Favre, spokesman for the Federal Department of the Interior (DFI) indicated last Friday that “this state visit is the consequence of the good contacts that the President of the Confederation Alain Berset has established with the French President. The two presidents have indeed met on several occasions recently, in particular last May, on the occasion of the coronation of Charles III in London and during the summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe in Reykjavík. At the end of June in Paris, they saw each other at the Summit for a new global financial pact.
A welcome visit
For Alain Berset, who will leave the Federal Council at the end of the year and whose image is tarnished, this visit comes at the right time: it allows him to end his presidential year and his mandate “with a triumph in foreign policy” , writes the Zurich newspaper. As for Swiss politicians, this visit is also welcomed (see box below).
The specific topics that will be addressed during the state visit in November are not yet known. “We will take stock of bilateral relations,” said the DFI spokesperson.
The visit of the upcoming French president is welcomed by foreign policy makers. For Franz Grüter (UDC / LU), president of the Foreign Policy Commission of the National Council, “this visit is synonymous with the normalization of relations”, he declared to the “NZZ am Sonntag”. Carlo Sommaruga (PS/GE) goes so far as to speak of a “diplomatic success for Alain Berset and for Switzerland”. Relations with Paris had been tarnished lately, as Bern had chosen an American fighter plane instead of a French jet.
Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter (Le Centre) is counting on the fact that the French president will convince Alain Berset of the need for regulated relations with the European Union (EU). And Hans-Peter Portmann (PLR/ZH), asserts that this state visit might help solve the problems: “Switzerland is currently facing a lot of misunderstanding on the international scene, whether in connection with the re-export of ‘Swiss arms to Ukraine or with neutrality and relations with Europe,’ he notes.
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