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In 1991, René Felber was the first Federal Councilor to announce that Switzerland should join the European Community. Now the Neuchâtel man has died at the age of 87. An obituary.
Former Federal Councilor Rene Felber in Neuchatel in June 2016.
Photo: Alessandro della Valle (Keystone)
René Felber’s death brings poignant moments from recent European history. The Neuchâtel Social Democrat was head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) when the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989 «Divided Germany» met in July 1990. During the mandate of Chancellor Felber, which ran from January 1988 It lasted until March 1993, the Soviet Union dissolved. On the contrary, the European Community (EC), with its then twelve member states, was full of attraction for the other states of the west and east of the Old Continent.
After 1989, there was a spirit of optimism in Europe. It forced the Federal Council to reconsider Switzerland’s position in the rapidly evolving European environment. Unlike his predecessor at the head of the FDFA and the Neuchâtel party comrade Pierre Aubert, Felber recognized from the beginning the great importance of European integration. He was convinced that Switzerland should not only participate in the domestic market of its most important trading partners, but should also help shape the future of Europe as a member of the EC.
Recognized EEA defects
Initially, the Federal Council had hoped that the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) would give Switzerland sufficient influence over the EU’s Brussels control center, which was then still called the European Community. But that was not the case. When on the night of October 22, 1991 in Luxembourg the outcome of tough negotiations between the partner states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the EC on the EEA became clear, Felber was the first Federal Councilor to announce: «Full membership in the EC is no longer an option, but the goal of Swiss integration policy.» The Foreign Minister was seconded by the free-spirited Minister of Economy Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, who called the EEA «ideal preparation platform for Swiss CE membership» designated.
Federal Councilor René Felber during an interview, recorded in November 1989.
Photo: (Keystone)
We both like «Euroturbos» The acclaimed French federal advisers did not recover with the new definition of location. A participant in the negotiations testifies that the EEA due to the lack of codetermination of the majority of the Bundesrat «was out of the question as a permanent and long-term basis for relations between Switzerland and the EC». In May 1992, Federal President Felber urged a decision to submit the membership application to the EC. The Federal Council followed him down this path with four or three votes, which the people, however, blocked six months later by narrowly rejecting the EEA Agreement.
Neuchâtel man’s vision of Europe was also shaped by his experiences of life on the frontier.
This defeat hurt Felber. Because he was convinced that Switzerland should play an active role in the great European unification. And he was not a politician who changes his beliefs like shirts.
Neuchâtel man’s vision of Europe was also shaped by his experiences of life on the frontier. Felber, who at age 31 changed from teaching to politician, had presided over the executive branch of the vigilante town Le Locle on the French border for 16 years. For another six years it had ruled as the Neuchâtel State Council in the border canton, whose population used to be the most favorable to the EU in votes.
Slope towards the lonely
The Neuchâtel Social Democrat was a member of the National Council from 1967 to 1981 and, in 1980, sovereignly led the parliamentary group in a tense period. But he was more comfortable in the role of executive politician than in a parliamentary chair. In the Federal Council he got along very well with the other French-speaking country, the bourgeois Delamuraz, although – or perhaps precisely because his political temperament could not be more different. Delamuraz was sociable, wanted to be loved, and loved the big show. Felber, on the other hand, tended to be a loner, brainstorming with a small circle of confidants in his department and processing important files as discreetly as possible.
Following his election to the Federal Council on December 9, 1987, René Felber left the Federal Palace in Bern accompanied by his wife Luce.
Photo: (Keystone)
The Federal Council with the distinctive mustache and melancholy eyes was not a media favorite. Felber was not very accessible and used to give surly information. In 1992, the year in which the main European political decisions were made in Switzerland, a cancer operation weakened the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The consequences of this disease forced Felber to resign from the Federal Council in early 1993. He died on October 18, 2020 at the age of 87. Florence Nater, president of SP Neuchâtel, confirmed the corresponding information from the Arcinfo online portal on Sunday evening.
