Organic farmer Rudi Berli: the new Swiss Abroad politician in Bern 

Food is at the heart of Rudi Berli's commitment: the community farm that employs him delivers weekly vegetable baskets to 400 households in Geneva. Thomas Kern / SWI swissinfo.ch

Rudi Berli, a member of the Green Party, lives in France and works in the Geneva countryside. He is only the fourth Swiss expatriate to hold a parliamentary seat but that is not the only thing that sets him apart.  

The first unusual thing is that Rudi Berli had only six weeks to prepare to be a parliamentarian. On October 19, the 61-year-old organic farmer learned he would be succeeding Green Party parliamentarian Nicolas Walder, who was elected to the Geneva government. Berli took his seat on December 1. 

The race against time had begun: he had to resign from his position as secretary with the farmers’ union Uniterre, find accommodation in Bern, and reduce his working hours at the community farm where he works.   

There is, however, no question of him permanently swapping his farming gear for the formal attire of a parliamentarian. “I want to continue working so that I can stay in touch with the land and maintain a balance between physical and intellectual work,” says Berli, as he sits in the sun by the greenhouses that will supply the vegetables delivered each week to 400 households in Geneva.   

Only a vineyard clothed in autumn colours separates the farm from the French border. Berli crosses it every day, as he lives in the small French town of Pougny, a few hundred metres from Switzerland.   

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This sunny November is all about cauliflower, radishes, sweet potatoes and squash. Thomas Kern / Swi Swissinfo.ch

When allocating vegetables, clothesline clips are used to keep track of which vegetables have already been added to the baskets. Thomas Kern / Swi Swissinfo.ch

Cooperative members work half-days on the farm. Thomas Kern / Swi Swissinfo.ch

On the walls of the hut, the cooperative’s farmers can express themselves. Thomas Kern / Swi Swissinfo.ch

Working together, sharing and conviviality are also cultivated by the Jardins de Cocagne. Thomas Kern / Swi Swissinfo.ch

A total of 14 people are employed by the cooperative. Thomas Kern / Swi Swissinfo.ch

The cooperative farm also has a political message to get across. Thomas Kern / Swi Swissinfo.ch

The polytunnels contain a variety of seasonal vegetables. Thomas Kern / Swi Swissinfo.ch

The cooperative was founded in 1978 by urban consumers who wanted a direct link with food production. Thomas Kern / Swissinfo

Hoses for watering vegetable gardens. Thomas Kern / Swi Swissinfo.ch

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This unique situation makes him the fourth Swiss citizen living abroad to sit in the federal parliament. The last one to do so was former ambassador to Berlin, Tim Guldimann. Elected in 2015, he threw in the towel after two years, citing the difficulty of fulfilling his mandate in Bern while living abroad. In the 1990s, married couple Ruedi and Stephanie Baumann moved to France during their last term in parliament.   

Berli intends to defend in parliament the interests of Swiss Abroad, particularly pushing for electronic voting. “This would solve the problem faced by many expatriates who receive their voting materials after the elections have taken place,” he says.   

Defusing tensions over cross-border workers 

However, he sees himself more as a cross-border worker. “I am committed to cross-border governance, whether in Geneva, Basel, Schaffhausen or Ticino, and to respecting the rights of people living in these regions,” he says.  

Ironically, as a parliamentarian, Berli will rub shoulders with other lawmakers from Geneva, including those from the Mouvement Citoyen Genevois (MCG or Geneva Citizens’ Movement), a party known for its stance against cross-border workers.  

One of them, Daniel Sormani, says he is nevertheless ready to work with the newly elected parliamentarian. “I criticised him on Facebook, but I will go and shake his hand to welcome him,” he says. Sormani does not see Berli as a “real cross-border worker”, because he is Swiss. “I find it funny that someone can be elected to parliament while living abroad, but it’s completely legal and democratic, so I accept it,” he continues. 

Berli describes the comments about his place of residence as “unpleasant”. “But I will try to show through my actions that I am fully integrated into Swiss society,” he says. 

The politician also highlights the problem of housing shortages and skyrocketing real estate prices in the Lake Geneva region. “We didn’t want to leave Switzerland but our income didn’t allow us to live in Geneva,” says this father of three children aged six to 20. He intends to raise the issue of housing shortages in parliament, which affects many people. 

Unusual experience that could build bridges 

Although Berli has never held office, his unique background should help him defend his causes in the Swiss parliament. His first asset is language. He knows German and Swiss German, as he grew up in rural Zurich. “That should help me get Geneva’s voice heard in Bern,” he says.   

Berli is well versed in the workings of politics, having become involved in youth movements in Zurich as a teenager in the 1980s. At the age of 18, he moved to Geneva to train at the Lullier horticultural centre. He fell in love with the region, never left, and continued his activism particularly through trade unionism.  

“In the 1980s in Zurich, I discovered that social movements were a form of collective expression that I carried within me,” explains Rudi Berli. Thomas Kern / Swi Swissinfo.ch

More than two decades in agricultural union Uniterre has been useful preparation. “I am very familiar with the workings of politics and with many people in Bern,” he says. 

Berli is also an atypical Green. He considers his party to be “a bit dogmatic” on certain issues like meat consumption. “Personally, I eat meat but consider its origin and the conditions in which the animals were raised. I don’t think that’s incompatible with being an environmentalist,” he says.   

A cautious ‘yes’ to EU

While he supports the bilateral approach to managing relations between Switzerland and the European Union, Berli is sceptical about the new package of bilateral agreements that the Swiss government has negotiated with Brussels. “I have a problem with the package approach,” he explains. “It prevents people from really knowing what these treaties mean.”  

He is particularly concerned about the agreements’ consequences on Swiss agriculture, and advocates strengthening domestic protection. “The liberalisation of the cheese market in 2007, for example, was detrimental to the Swiss dairy industry,” he warns. “Nearly half of all dairy farms have disappeared.” 

This scepticism does not perturb his colleagues in the party. “He is a great colleague,” says Geneva Green Party parliamentarian Delphine Klopfenstein Broggini. While the Greens support the package of agreements with Brussels, she puts Berli’s caution into perspective. “If he is a bit hesitant on the issue, it won’t weaken the party’s clear position,” she says. She also welcomes the arrival of another representative of agriculture to the Green Party group in parliament. 

Agriculture as a part of society

Berli wants to place agriculture at the heart of his political agenda. In 1985, when he joined Les Jardins de Cocagne, where he still works today, the farm was one of the pioneers of organic farming. “As a young apprentice, I was shocked to have to wear a gas mask to spray vegetables that would end up on our plates,” he says.   

Nuts, bread and cheese are laid out on the table in the small wooden hut that serves as a kitchen and office for the farm’s employees. Food is an important part of Berli’s commitment. “We need to build a joint project between the population and agriculture: guaranteeing high-quality food and enabling farmers to make a living from their work,” he says. 

He is a fierce opponent of free trade agreements, describing them as “ideological”. “We want to feed the people around our farms first before feeding international markets. Otherwise, nature and society will pay the price,” he warns.  

To boost his party’s standing in the polls, Berli believes that the Green project must remain anchored in society. “Without this component, we will never succeed in building a more sustainable society,” he asserts.   

Will he have to make sacrifices for his new term in parliament? “There will be times when I won’t see my family. It’s going to be a big change for my children too,” he confides, looking around at the many photos of them on the walls of the hut.   

Edited by Pauline Turuban. Adapted from French by Julia Crawford/ac