Ex-Swiss minister Berset takes up top post at Council of Europe

Alain Berset is the 15th Secretary General of the Strasbourg-based organisation – and the first ever Swiss in the job. Keystone-SDA/ Alessandro Della Valle

Former Swiss cabinet minister Alain Berset, who took over as Secretary General of the Council of Europe on Wednesday, does not face an easy task. His political supporters are counting on his soft power to strengthen the organisation's credibility.

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The Fribourg native will succeed Marija Pejčinović Burić, who is leaving with a mixed record. Her five-year term of office was characterised by the war in Ukraine and the Covid crisis. The Croatian led a Council that, according to René Schwok, Professor of European Studies at the University of Geneva, is struggling to find its place.

“The balance sheet after 75 years is not exactly great,” summarised Schwok. The organisation’s activities overlap with those of other organisations that carry more weight.

Rebuilding the credibility of the Council

The task will to rebuild the Council’s credibility will be difficult, said Cédric Wermuth, Co-President of the Social Democratic Party. The man from Aargau had travelled to Strasbourg on the day of Berset’s election on June 25. The role of the Council of Europe has become less important in recent years, although it is really needed in view of the decline of democratic values in Europe, said Wermuth.

For example, Azerbaijan was expelled from the Parliamentary Assembly in January due to the deterioration of human rights and democracy in the country. Russia was also forced to leave the Council after launching a war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022.

Switzerland recently criticised the Council after the European Court of Human Rights condemned it for inaction on climate change in April. The task of the former Swiss minister will be to rebuild the Council’s credibility, but also its direct impact on the member states. Wermuth is counting on the influence of the Fribourg native to achieve a turnaround in the Council.

Berset is someone who has a vision and values and at the same time can drive the dossiers forward in concrete terms, said Damien Cottier, Neuchatel parliamentarian from the centre-right Radical-Liberal Party. And as a former President of Switzerland, he has the necessary address book to reach the highest spheres.

Deadline of two or three years

Cottier, one of twelve Swiss parliamentarians in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, expects Berset to have a stronger presence in this body than his predecessors: “There will be a more direct relationship, and you will notice that very quickly in his style,” says Cottier.

One of Berset’s tasks will be to align the Council’s priorities with the major issues that the heads of state and government defined at the summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, in May 2023, according to the Cottier. He added that the organisation is otherwise doing quite well. For example, its budget was increased last year for the first time in 30 years.

“The former Federal Council must maintain this momentum,” said Cottier. Specific support for Ukraine and the creation of a special court to judge high-ranking Russian officials are among the most important projects that Berset must tackle.

The political environment of the future Secretary-General expects it to take two to three years before his policies have a visible impact. As far as Switzerland’s relations with the EU are concerned, analysts agree that Berset’s presence in the Council of Europe can only be positive.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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