Pascal Couchepin
President of the
Swiss Confederation
Berne
Curriculum Vitae
Born in 1942. Pascal Couchepin earned a degree in law from the University of Lausanne.
After his graduation, Pascal Couchepin became a self-employed lawyer. In 1968, he started his political career as a member of the City Council in his hometown Martigny. In 1979, Pascal Couchepin was elected to the Federal Parliament as a representative of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). From 1984 to 1998, he served as Mayor of Martigny. Between 1989 and 1996, he was Chairman of the LDP’s parliamentary group. In 1998, Pascal Couchepin was elected to the Federal Government, where he took over the Federal Department of Economic Affairs. He held this position until 2002, before he took charge of the Federal Department of Home Affairs at the beginning of the year 2003, being responsible for social affairs, health and education. During the same year, Pascal Couchepin was President of the Swiss Confederation. In 2007, he acted as Vice President of the Swiss Confederation, and, for the current year, has assumed the office of President of the Swiss Confederation for the second time.
38th St. Gallen Symposium
Opening Address
The
Imperative of Openness: Strategies of a Small State Embedded in the Global Markets
Thursday,
15 May 2008, 08:35–08:55
Downloads
 | CV Pascal Couchepin, Opening Address, 38th St. Gallen Symposium |
