Beat Vonlanthen

Beat Vonlanthen during a TV interview on national election day, October 20, 2019

Beat Vonlanthen (2013)

Beat Vonlanthen (born April 8, 1957 in St. Antoni ; resident in St. Antoni and Heitenried ) is a Swiss politician ( CVP ). From 2004 to 2016 he was State Councilor for the Canton of Friborg . Vonlanthen was a member of the Council of States in the legislative period from 2015 to 2019 .

Life

His parents are Oswald Vonlanthen, farmer, Ammann and Grand Councilor, and Astrid, b. Vonlanthen, housewife. He is the oldest of three children, including the painter Ivo Vonlanthen. In 1985 he married Gisela Stritt. The couple has three grown children and lives in Heitenried.

After primary school in St. Antoni, he attended the St. Michael College , where he learned the French language and passed his Matura type B in 1977 . At the University of Freiburg , he studied law , laid in 1982, the licentiate , and then worked as a research assistant. In 1984 he went to England and returned the following year with a Master of Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science , in order to complete his education in 1986 with a doctorate in law at the University of Freiburg .

In the same year Vonlanthen began to work in the federal administration, initially as head of training for the delegate for refugees in the Justice and Police Department, Peter Arbenz . In 1988 he moved to the Department of Economics, where he worked as a personal assistant to the director of the BIGA director Klaus Hug and was responsible for the “training offensive”. In 1990 he was found in the Department of the Interior as Chief of Staff of the Science and Research Group. In 1998 he became Deputy Director of the State Secretariat for Science and Research. In the military, he last held the rank of captain.

politics

Vonlanthen presided over the CVP Sense from 1989 to 1994. In 1995 he was elected to the Grand Council and confirmed in his office in the 1996 and 2001 elections. In 2004 he ran to succeed State Councilor Urs Schwaller . In this replacement election, which took place on May 16, three candidates faced each other. With 46% of the vote, Vonlanthen was well ahead of its two competitors. Elected by silent vote, he took office in July.

Bearing in mind his studies in Great Britain, he worked hard to introduce New Public Management methods in the cantonal administration, which were intended to increase productivity. He took over the spatial planning, environment and building management. By December 31, 2006, he had submitted more than ten decrees to the Grand Council. The most important thing concerned the commitment loan for the construction of the Poya Bridge , which the Grand Council approved on June 23, 2006 and the people - with 81% of the vote - on September 24, 2006.

On November 5, 2006 Vonlanthen was confirmed in his office in the first ballot and came in second place. In his second term he headed the Department of Economics. From 2007 to 2011, he successfully submitted around ten draft laws and decrees to the cantonal parliament, including the laws on vocational training (2007) and economic development (2007) as well as the new energy strategy (2009).

In 2010 Vonlanthen was President of the State Council. One of his successes was the strengthening of the canton's economic presence in China. In addition, he was a member of the board of directors of the Assembly of European Regions and presided over two important institutions: 2010–2011 the Conference of Economic Directors of Western Switzerland (VDK-WS) and, from 2011, the Conference of Cantonal Energy Directors (EnDK).

As President of the State Council in 2010, Vonlanthen explained his ideas about the future of the canton. He was re-elected in the 2011 State Council elections and finished second in both ballots. In 2014 he was again President of the State Council.

From 2015 to 2019 he was a member of the Council of States. On November 10, 2019, he was voted out of office as a Council of States in the second ballot . Johanna Gapany ( FDP ) achieved an election result that was 138 votes higher .

He is Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Groupe E SA, President of the cemsuisse Association of the Swiss Cement Industry and, since 2017, President of the Swiss Casino Association.

literature

Georges Andrey , John Clerc, Jean-Pierre Dorand et Nicolas Gex: The Freiburg Council of State: 1848–2011. History, organization, members . Editions La Sarine, Freiburg 2012, ISBN 978-2-88355-153-4 .