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Swiss politician Alain Berset remains in running for Council of Europe top job

Alain Berset
Alain Berset will learn whether he has the job on June 25 KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE / ALESSANDRO DELLA VALLE

Former Swiss Interior Minister Alain Berset is one of three names up for election as Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the Swiss foreign ministry announced on Monday.

The Parliamentary Assembly will choose a winner on June 25.

The foreign ministry tweeted that it “welcomes the support expressed by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for the candidacy” of Berset. “We reaffirm our support for this Swiss candidacy,” it added.

Berset’s candidacy was announced in January.

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The Secretary General of the Council of Europe since 2019, Croatian Marija Pejcinovic Buric, did not wish to stand for re-election. Her term of office, which ends in September, was marked by the crisis in Ukraine, which resulted in Russia’s exclusion from the Council in March 2022, a historic decision taken just after the outbreak of war.

Translated from French by DeepL/ts

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