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Under Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (62) and his right-hand man, Secretary General Markus Seiler (53), the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs (FDFA) lost a lot of diplomatic competence.
Experienced diplomats threw the beggar down or were put off by being cut short. The media also reports about favoritism.
The EU dossier in particular eats up staff. True to the motto: if hardly anything moves in the negotiations between Switzerland and the EU, at least the personnel carousel is merrily spinning. Now it’s rattling in the box again.
Livia Leu—2020-2023
On Tuesday evening it was announced that Livia Leu (62) had had enough. After three years as head of the State Secretariat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she moves to Berlin as ambassador. The Federal Council on Wednesday confirmed a report from the “Tages-Anzeiger”.
Since October 2020, Leu has been negotiating with the European Union to extend the framework agreement that Switzerland has buried. After the Federal Council sounded the death knell for the agreement, it was up to Leu to anticipate the strength of a new negotiating box.
The complicated EU dossier leaves Leu “at his own request”, it says. However, it has long been reported that Leu and Secretary of State Ignazio Cassis did not always agree on foreign policy direction.
Roberto Balzaretti – 2018-2020
As Secretary of State for European Affairs, Roberto Balzaretti (58) negotiated the failed EU framework agreement for Switzerland – for a government that did not yet know what it wanted. The Federal Council abruptly scuttled the agreement in May 2021.
In October 2020, the highest-ranking Swiss diplomat was dismissed by the Federal Council; he had to give up his position as EU chief negotiator. Reluctantly and with a mountain of pending issues. Balzaretti was then allowed to take over the embassy in Paris, which had previously been held by his successor Livia Leu.
Pascale Baeriswyl – 2017-2018
With the departure of State Secretary Jacques de Watteville (72), Pascale Baeriswyl (55) took over the coordination of the negotiations with the European Union in April 2017.
Almost a year later, in February 2018, Baeriswyl was impeached. Her successor, Balzaretti, was appointed Secretary of State for Europe in the FDFA. A year later, Baeriswyl had finally left Bern completely: since August 2019 she has been representing Switzerland as head of the UN mission in New York.
Jacques de Wattville – 2016-2017
In June 2015, then-Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Burkhalter (63) announced a change of strategy in Swiss European policy: a ‘chief negotiator’ would henceforth coordinate all EU dossiers and pull the strings. Jacques de Wattewil was rewarded with the prestigious job.
To that end, Secretary of State Burkhalter moved him from the State Secretariat for International Financial Affairs of the Ministry of Finance (SIF) to the FDFA. He retired there at the end of June 2016, but kept his position as chief negotiator for the time being.
Yves Rossier – 2012-2016
Yves Rossier (62) was Switzerland’s chief diplomat from 2012 to 2016 as Secretary of State and in this capacity played a key role in the preparatory negotiations on the Framework Agreement with the EU. Until the Federal Council dismissed Rossier in 2016 and he had to take a back seat. The staff decision should provide a way out of the thorny immigration dispute with the EU following the yes to the SVP immigration initiative.
In 2017, he moved to Moscow as ambassador until 2020. In February 2021, he resigned from the FDFA.
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
