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On Tuesday, Michael Flügger handed over his credentials to Federal President Simonetta Sommaruga (60). Flügger succeeds Norbert Riedel, who was German ambassador to Switzerland for the past three years.
“I am happy to be back in Switzerland,” said Flügger. The 60-year-old already knows the country: he began his career at the University of Geneva, where he studied law. After three years in Bonn, he returned to Lake Geneva in 1991. There he worked until 1995 as a human rights officer in the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN.
“A matter of the heart”
Now he has the “great privilege of helping to strengthen the excellent neighborly relations between our two countries,” Flügger enthuses. For him, this is a “matter of the heart.”
The diplomat knows not only international Geneva, but also Switzerland’s most important trading partner – the EU. This should be particularly important in view of the discussions on the framework agreement between Switzerland and the EU. When it comes to pulling the strings with the EU, Switzerland is especially dependent on the goodwill of its neighboring countries.
Ambassador Flügger arrives in Bern directly from Brussels. At the European headquarters, he was the representative of Germany in the Political and Security Committee of the EU and was head of the political department in the permanent representation of Germany. Before that, he was stationed in Sarajevo and London, among others. (until)
