Didier Burkhalter Politician
Didier Burkhalter (born 17 April 1960 in Neuchâtel) is a Swiss politician of FDP.The Liberals. He was elected as member of the Swiss Federal Council on 16 September 2009, and succeeded Pascal Couchepin on 1 November 2009 when he became head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (the Swiss interior minister). Since 1 January 2012, he is head of the Department of Foreign Affairs. In the year 2014 he was President of the Swiss Confederation.A native of the Canton of Neuchâtel, Burkhalter was member of the parliament of the Canton of Neuchâtel from 1990 to 2001. At the same time (from 1991 to 2005), he was a member of Neuchâtel's city government (Conseil communal) and its mayor several times (1994/1995, 1998/1998, 2001/2002). From 2003 to 2007, Burkhalter was a member of the Swiss National Council. He has a degree in economics. Burkhalter is married to a native Austrian and father of three children.On 11 November 2007, he was elected to the Council of States, along with Social Democratic Party (SP) candidate Gisèle Ory, who was re-elected for a second term. Pierre Bonhôte, the other social democratic incumbent, was not re-elected. During the election campaign, Burkhalter was backed by the Liberal Party (PLS) and the SVP/UDC, though the SVP/UDC scarcely endorsed him publicly.On 4 December 2013, Burkhalter was elected as President of the Swiss Confederation for the 2014 term by taking 183 of the available 222 votes of the Federal Assembly.On January 1, 2014 Burkhalter assumed the office as President of the Swiss Confederation. As President of the Confederation, Burkhalter presides over meetings of the Federal Council and carries out representative functions that would normally be handled by a head of state in other democracies (though in Switzerland, the Federal Council as a whole is regarded as the head of state). He is also the highest-ranking official in the Swiss order of precedence, and has the power to act on behalf of the whole Council in emergency situations. However, in most cases, the president is merely primus inter pares, with no powers over and above his six colleagues.
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Office holder
| office | President of Switzerland Vice President of Switzerland Head of the Department of Home Affairs Member of the Swiss Federal Council Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs |
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