Who is going where?

After the two-day break in canton Valais, Switzerland’s cabinet members will be off on their official summer holidays.

This year’s president, Pascal Couchepin, is remaining cagey about his final destination, although he will be spending the start of his holiday in his home canton.

Couchepin, who is also the interior minister, is expected to spend some time in the South of France.

The foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, plans to head south to the Italian side of Lake Maggiore, before visiting her parents in canton Valais – where she was born and raised.

The other woman in the cabinet – the justice minister, Ruth Metzler – will be combining official business with pleasure over the summer.

She will start by travelling to Ukraine, Poland and Austria to discuss migration policy with counterparts in each of those countries, before pursuing her passion for diving in the Mediterranean.

Home and away

While the defence minister, Samuel Schmid will spend some of the summer in Spain, the finance minister, Kaspar Villiger, the economics minister, Joseph Deiss, and the transport minister, Moritz Leuenberger, are all expected to spend most of their time in Switzerland.

Villiger, who was involved in a bicycle accident at Easter, will once again take to two wheels during his holiday in Graubünden and Ticino.

Deiss will be travelling around several cantons “meeting the people and enjoying nature”, according to his spokesman.

As in previous years, Leuenberger will remain at home in Zurich, taking some time out to visit the new Madagascan rainforest at Zurich zoo.

swissinfo with agencies