Head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs
Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter was born on 17 April 1960 and graduated with a degree in economics from the University of Neuchâtel. He held various academic positions and positions in the private sector before being elected to the municipal council of the city of Neuchâtel in 1991. As part of his political activities, he also sat in legislatures at communal (Hauterive NE), cantonal (Neuchâtel Grand Council) and federal level. Didier Burkhalter was a member of both chambers of the Federal Parliament. In 2003 he was elected to the National Council. In 2007 he was elected to the Council of States. On 16 September 2009, Didier Burkhalter was elected to the Federal Council. He has headed the Federal Department of Home Affairs since 1 November 2009.
Monday, 10. October 2011, 18:15 – 20:00 h
At the University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich, KOH-B-10
The debt crisis in Europe provides an opportunity to reflect on Europe's longer-term prospects in a world that is in transition to a genuinely multipolar order. Can Europe survive in the globally unleashed competition for innovation and education? Is the European welfare state an obsolete model? And what about small but highly successful Switzerland: will it manage to maintain or even increase its competitive advantages, or is there a risk of complacency?