Mr. President, what did you want to prove?
Boa, cigar, beer and music. A President of the Confederation does not put himself on stage on a Street Parade float for nothing. What was Alain Berset’s message to Zurich? The journalists of “Matin Dimanche” analyze.
Alain Berset at the Street Parade on August 12.
EPA/SEVERIN BIGLER
He’s out of control
If there was only one word to describe Alain Berset’s attitude during his eleven years on the Federal Council: it is “control”. Never a statement, an attitude or a gesture that has not been weighed, thought out or decided. A polished communication that has often prevented the Fribourgeois from being anything other than a minister. Forget the human to embody the function. And that is precisely why the images of the Street Parade are surprising. Alain Berset seems freewheeling. Is he trying to unlock his image? To break the political armor to bring out his personality? To tell us who he really is? I remember a 1er August on the Rütli, where he was guest of honour. Despite the heat, he was in a suit and tie. “It’s a matter of respect for the institutions,” he told me. The gap is immense with the boa, the cigar and the beer. However, Alain Berset may well be a resigning President of the Confederation, the Institution requires that he embodies the function to the end.