Foreign affairs hold fonder memories for Deiss
His resignation may have come as a shock, but it was no surprise that Joseph Deiss picked Switzerland's entry to the United Nations as his best moment in government.
For it was at the foreign ministry from 1999-2003 that Deiss achieved his biggest successes, gaining a seat on the world body and forging closer ties with the European Union.
Having suffered recent setbacks on a free-trade deal with the United States and controversial plans for a ban on Pitbulls, Deiss did not dwell on his two-year tenure at the economics ministry when he announced his resignation on Thursday.
Instead his thoughts turned to the hoisting of the Swiss flag outside the United Nations building in New York in September 2002, marking Switzerland’s accession to the world body.
“It was a real turnaround,” he told Fribourg’s La Liberté. “For 50 years people had said Switzerland couldn’t become a member of the United Nations for a variety of reasons.
“Suddenly we had to tell the people: No! We must join the United Nations. It was a real revolution that proved to be the right decision. It was a great moment for a politician.”
Another triumph of his time at the foreign ministry was the approval by 67 per cent of Swiss voters in May 2000 of seven bilateral accords with the EU. Deiss described this as a breakthrough for relations with Brussels.
Political journalist Georges Plomb told swissinfo that Deiss’s successes with the UN and the EU were “pretty extraordinary achievements”.
Political record
But Georg Lutz, a political scientist at Bern University, puts a rather different spin on Deiss’s record at the foreign ministry. He says much of the reason for his successes was simply down to being in the right place at the right time.
When Deiss was foreign minister the seven-strong cabinet was made up of two Christian Democrats, two centre-right Radicals, two centre-left Social Democrats and one member of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party.
But following the December 2003 cabinet elections, the Christian Democrats lost one of their seats to the People’s Party, leaving Deiss in a delicate position.
“During his time as foreign minister he managed to move some proposals forward, such as UN membership, and he was able to do that with the support and backing of the entire government,” Lutz told swissinfo. “But the people in power at that time were more open towards international and European integration than those in government now.”
Lutz said the shift in the “constellation of power” after the cabinet elections meant that conditions were no longer quite so favourable for the lone Christian Democrat as he took up his new post as economics minister.
Dog’s dinner
According to the political scientist, Deiss’s reduced scope for policy making was evident in the fiasco surrounding the failed Pitbull ban. Deiss, who publicly called for a ban in January, was forced to back down three months later following opposition from fellow cabinet members.
“It was made very clear to him who is in the majority in this government. They could have easily passed this – it was just a symbolic piece of policy making that wasn’t going to cost billions – but they just let him run into a wall,” explained Lutz.
“The power relationship in government is quite essential and I think that was one of the reasons why he resigned,” he added.
Even so, it was not all plain sailing during Deiss’s time at the foreign ministry. His judgement was called into question over a scandal in 2002 involving the Swiss ambassador to Berlin, Thomas Borer.
Deiss recalled Borer following lurid allegations of an extra-marital affair that were later proved to be false. Borer, who denied the claims from the start, later resigned from the foreign ministry, accusing his boss of “completely abandoning” him.
The diplomatic corps suffered a further blow on Deiss’s watch the same year when the ambassador to Luxembourg was arrested for money laundering. He was later sentenced to three and a half years in jail.
swissinfo, Adam Beaumont
Joseph Deiss is to leave the cabinet at the end of July, marking the end of 25 years in politics. Thursday’s announcement that he was standing down to make way for new blood took the government and many in the country by surprise.
Announcing his decision, the 60-year-old Christian Democrat said seven years as a cabinet minister and a quarter of a century in politics was enough. He said he was stepping down of his own accord.
Joseph Deiss was born in Fribourg in 1946.
The professor of economics was a member of canton Fribourg’s cantonal parliament from 1981-1991. He also served as mayor of the Fribourg village, Barberêche, from 1982-1996.
Deiss was elected to Switzerland’s House of Representatives as a member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Party in 1991, and was the Swiss price regulator from 1993-1996.
He joined the cabinet in 1999 as foreign minister, and took over the economics portfolio in 2003.
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