Burkhalter: ‘I regret nothing’

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Foreign Minister Burkhalter welcomes the Prime Minister of Kuwait, Sheikh Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah, and his Kuwaiti delegation an an official dinner in Berne, August 29, 2016. (Keystone) Keystone

John Kerry, at that time still the US Secretary of State, jokes with Burkhalter at last year's World Economic Forum in Davos, January 21, 2016. (Keystone) Keystone

Burkhalter and the German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier worked closely on the Ukraine crisis, undertaking numerous joint mediation attempts. Here they are in Bern, August 17, 2015, (Keystone) Keystone

Burkhalter at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, September 24, 2014. (Keystone) Keystone

A Federal Council selfie, taken by Alain Berset, with (from left) Ueli Maurer, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, Doris Leuthard, Didier Burkhalter, Simonetta Sommaruga and Johann Schneider-Ammann, July 3, 2014. Alain Berset vai Twitter

Burkhalter with the Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in front of the Danish flag, confused with the Swiss flag, when Burkhalter was Chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Kiev, April 14, 2014. (Keystone) Keystone

Didier Burkhalter and his wife Friedrun greet the crowd at a celebration for the newly elected Federal Council at Saint Blaise in Neuchâtel, September 24, 2009. (Keystone) Keystone

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After thirty years of political activity – including the last eight in the Federal Council – it’s time to open a new chapter, announced the Swiss foreign minister Didier Burkhalter on 14 June 2017. 

“I regret nothing,” said the man who has presided over the foreign ministry since 2012. He will step down at the end of October. Here we present some of the highlights of his political career.