Swiss government photo for 2023 paints united front

From left to right: Federal Chancellor Walter Thurnherr and Federal Councillors Albert Rösti, Ignazio Cassis, Viola Amherd, Alain Berset, Guy Parmelin, Karin Keller-Sutter and Elisabeth Baume-Schneider Keystone / Matthieu Gafsou

Switzerland's new president sought to present a united front in the official government photo for 2023.

“The members of the government are working well together despite their different points of view, and they are working together for the good of the country,” said Alain Berset, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year. He was previously president in 2018.

The official photo shows the seven ministers of the Federal Council and Federal Chancellor Walter Thurnherr gathered around a large table. The landscape in the background symbolises the outside world and how the government’s action link to the population.

Reassuring symbols

Placed on the table, a compass, a map of Switzerland and a copy of the Swiss constitution, which celebrates its 175th anniversary in 2023, represent the basis of the Federal Council’s commitment. The flying leaves, with a poem by Swiss writer Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, discreetly evoke the chaos and global tensions that seem much more present today than in the past.

“In a period of uncertainty and crisis, the photograph must be both reassuring and sober. It is intended to show the unity of the Federal Council and the good collaboration of its members, despite the different points of view,” Berset said of the image.

The photo was taken at the Bernerhof by Matthieu Gafsou. The Swiss photographer was inspired by 17th-century genre painting and the Düsseldorf school of photography. 

A total of 40,000 copies have been printed. The photograph can be downloaded or ordered at www.admin.ch. There is also a videoExternal link on the creation of the photo.