The Grand Conseil restaurant – and its breathtaking view over the rooftops of Lausanne – is now open to the public on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. On Tuesday, the day of the Grand Council meeting, it remains reserved for cantonal elected officials for reasons of capacity. “It is no longer an exclusive. We want to bring the public to Parliament”, announces the president of the Grand Council Séverine Evéquoz, Wednesday in La Matinale de la RTS.
And to add: “Even on days when the Grand Council is not in session, there are committees that meet. It is a place in turmoil. There is therefore the possibility of meeting deputies: drinking a coffee or a glass of Chasselas with them.” The concept had already been mentioned during the inauguration of the new parliament in 2017, after fifteen years of work. But the project has been delayed, in particular because of the two-year pandemic.
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Guarantee the security of the place
This place is unique in Switzerland. The rare parliament refreshments in the cantons of Jura, Ticino and Geneva are all inaccessible to the population for security reasons in particular. Since the shooting at the Parliament of Zug in 2001, and more recently theevacuation of the Federal Palace in Bern, the hemicycles are generally very protected.
“Access to the rest of the parliament is not possible, indicates Séverine Evéquoz. All the doors are closed. Only access to the toilets is possible. This is the pledge that we must take to be able to open this bar. to the public. We must not close ourselves in on ourselves. We must show that democracy and parliamentary work are something accessible to everyone.”
The canton of Vaud is thus following in the footsteps of the Quebec parliament. Its public restaurant has been very popular with tourists for more than fifty years.
Le Parlementaire, the restaurant of the Quebec parliament, has been open to the public for more than half a century. [LE PARLEMENTAIRE – FACEBOOOK]
Julie Rausis/Rehearsal