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Guy Parmelin will be federal president next year, for the first time in his career. The United Federal Assembly elected the 61-year-old political vice president to office on Wednesday with 188 out of 202 valid votes.
In his speech, Parmelin said he was delighted, honored and challenged by the election of the federal president. These are turbulent times. “The pandemic was and is a shock to the population.” Next year you want to play a major role in crisis management with commitment and determination, and in between also spread a little optimism.
According to Parmelin, he wants to put the country’s cohesion at the center of his presidential year. Solidarity is particularly important in times of crisis. “We can do it together,” Parmelin said.
Approach the crisis very differently. Some faced the pandemic “with mockery and disbelief,” others lived by the precautionary principle. “As always, the path of wisdom is somewhere in between.”
“A bit of German-Swiss”
Everyone should contribute to overcoming the Corona crisis, Parmelin said. Cohesion is important: between young and old, between town and country, throughout the Röstigraben and regardless of social position.
“I embody the whole thing myself,” Parmelin said. As a French-speaking master farmer from a small town in Vaud, he is now the federal president-elect and weekly resident in a large Swiss city. “I’m not just a French-speaking country, I’m also a bit German-Swiss,” Parmelin said.
Presidency of the Federal Council meetings
Parmelin is the fifteenth Vaudois to preside over the Confederacy. More recently, the Federal Councilor of the FDP Jean-Pascal Delamuraz was Federal Councilor of Vaud in 1989 and 1996.
For one year, Parmelin will lead the Federal Council meetings as “primus inter pares” (first among equals) and will assume representation functions. He was elected to the Federal Council in December 2015. He succeeded BDP Federal Councilor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, and ensured that the Vice Presidency has had two Federal Councilors in state government since then.
Until the end of 2018, Parmelin headed the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sports (DDPS). Since the beginning of 2019 he is head of the Department of Economics, Education and Research (EAER).
Cassis becomes Vice President
The United Federal Assembly elected the 59-year-old Federal Councilor of the Ticino FDP, Ignazio Cassis, vice president. He received 162 of 191 valid votes. Cassis is expected to be elected federal president of the year 2022 in one year.
Cassis was elected to the Federal Council on September 20, 2017. He succeeded his colleague from the Neuchâtel party, Didier Burkhalter. Cassis has been Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) since November 1, 2017.
Telebasel will broadcast the press conference with newly elected Federal President Guy Parmelin from Bern at 3:15 pm on a live broadcast.
