2024-02-25 21:15:09
After eleven years in the Neuchâtel executive, Laurent Kurth bows out. The Grand Council paid tribute to him last week. As he explains on Sunday on 7:30 p.m., it was time for him to make way for “people who come with new energy”.
At 56 years old, Laurent Kurth has 20 years of executive work behind him. First in his home town of La Chaux-de-Fonds, then in 2012 at the Neuchâtel Council of State where he inherited Finance and Health, a mammoth department.
Last week, the Grand Council paid tribute to him. On the left as on the right, his commitment to the State is recognized.
>> Watch the 7:30 p.m. topic:: After 11 years at the Neuchâtel Council of State, Laurent Kurth is preparing to bow out. / 7:30 p.m. / 2 min. / yesterday at 7:30 p.m.
Numerous crises experienced
His mandates were punctuated by numerous reforms, but also numerous crises, whether political, economic, social, financial or even hospital-related. Not to mention Covid.
“My hair has turned a little white, it’s true,” he laughs on the 7:30 p.m. microphone this Sunday, admitting that the role can be “harassing.” This is a reason for his withdrawal, he admits. In any case, by announcing his desire to leave the Council of State six months ago, Laurent Kurth aspired to a little rest, “far from the light”. “In any case, I have mourned the loss of elective mandates.”
This is also the meaning of my desire to leave room for people who can create a new dynamic based on the concerns of the moment.
Laurent Kurth, State Councilor of Neuchatel
The socialist will officially give way to his successor Frédéric Mairy on March 1, the anniversary of the Neuchâtel Republic. Quite a symbol for this statesman.
According to him, it was time to leave his place. “We need regularly renewed energies at the head of the State. This is also the meaning of my desire to leave room for people who come with new energy and who can also create a new dynamic according to the concerns of the moment.”
Satisfied with what he leaves behind
In any case, he says he is more than satisfied with what he leaves behind. “I am especially satisfied to look today at the general climate which prevails in Neuchâtel, which is that of a climate of confidence. The canton is doing well, it has regained demographic and economic momentum. And this, while I have returned in 2012 in an extremely tense climate, punctuated by multiple political affairs.”
I understood quite quickly with this job that it is a crisis manager job.
Not everything has been simple in 20 years of executive office. The crises he went through have still cost him some strong enmities today, particularly in his hometown of La Chaux-de-Fonds. He agrees, but accepts it. According to him, it’s part of the job.
“I understood quite quickly with this job that it is a crisis manager’s job,” he insists. And in times of crisis, there are bound to be enmities that form. “But I think I’ve always tried to bring calm during turbulent times.”
Intimate knowledge of the Swiss healthcare system
During his political career, Laurent Kurth developed an intimate knowledge of the country’s health system, the model of which, according to him, has reached the end of its run. “This model is maintained by lobbies who still use it quite a bit in its financing which today costs unbearable sums for households every month. We must therefore put all this in order and find a pilot.”
To do this, he calls for the creation of a State Secretariat for Health. But he assures us: he will not be a candidate if such a position were to be created. “It’s true that my profile can be interesting, in the sense that I managed health and finance at the same time, but I didn’t make this proposal a year ago to imagine that it would be made to me. propose.”
Comments collected: Gabriel de Weck
Web adaptation: Fabien Grenon
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