Rīga

Studies and career

Bachelor of law of the University of Lausanne and lawyer
it is to advise communal with Martigny, Valais 1968 with 1998 of which 14 years as a president of the city
It is elected with the National council in 1979 and chairs the parliamentary group radical of 1989 1996

Federal adviser

It was elected with the Swiss Federal council the March 11th 1998 and belongs to the radical-democratic Parti. It occupied the following stations:

Chief of the federal Department of the economy (1998 - 2002)
Chief of the federal Department of the interior (since 2003)
Vice-president of the Federal council for the year 2002
President of the Confederation for the year 2003
Vice-president of the Federal council in 2007

Assessment

It is one of the most media characters of the Swiss politico-economic field. Known for its “yells” and its outspokenness, its popularity in particular dropped because of the sensitive file of the and retirement age AVS. Since it is with the head of the federal Department of the interior, Pascal Couchepin pleads, to compensate for the demographic trends, for a progressive rise in the retirement age at 66 years in 2015 and 67 years in 2025.

Another political priority of the chief of the federal Department of the interior is the file of the health insurance which it reforms step by step. He in particular managed to contain the rises of the premiums of health insurance. Pascal Couchepin also opened the field of health to more competition. The Swiss ones approve this option since a strong majority of the people rejected in 2007 the initiative on the single case which aimed at nationalizing the health insurance.

Always as regards industrial relations policy, Pascal Couchepin supported the introduction of maternity benefits which were voted in 2004. The family help (voting in 2006) were introduced and he managed to convince the people to revise the disablement insurance which is strongly involved in debt. Thanks to the reforms undertaken, the granting of new revenues AI dropped by 30%.

The chief of the federal Department of the interior is also an enthusiastic defender of the formation and research. Switzerland thus obtained constitutional new articles on the formation (voting 2006) and it defended successfully the principle of the increase in the appropriations to research and the formation.

Pascal Couchepin also innovated in the cultural field. For the first time in Switzerland, the support for the culture and the policy in favor of the museums were approached overall at the federal level. In the field of the relations with the foreigner, Switzerland concluded from new agreements with the European Union in the field of research and the cinematographic field. At the Department of the economy, which it directed until 2002, Pascal Couchepin made reform of agriculture one of his priorities. In the training area, it reinforced the position of the High schools specialized in the landscape of the High Swiss and international schools. The law on the insurance unemployment also was revised and cleansed by Pascal Couchepin who finally defended successfully in front of the people the bilateral agreements between Switzerland and the European Union.

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