Enrico Celio

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Enrico Celio

Enrico Celio (born June 19, 1889 in Ambrì (municipality of Quinto ), † February 23, 1980 in Lugano ) was a Swiss politician ( CVP ). He studied literature, philosophy and law, and worked professionally as a journalist and editor-in-chief of a conservative newspaper and as a lawyer . From 1913 he sat on the Grand Council of the Canton of Ticino for almost two decades . He moved up to the National Council three times for a short time , namely in 1924, 1927 and 1930. After he was elected to the Ticino State Council in 1932 , he headed the education and police department for eight years. 1940, elected him Federal Assembly in the Bundesrat after several other candidates had announced their resignation. During his entire tenure in the state government, Celio was in charge of the postal and railroad department , in 1943 and 1948 he served as Federal President . He appeared primarily as a promoter of civil aviation , which quickly gained in importance after the Second World War. In 1950 he resigned and was then Swiss ambassador to Rome until 1955 .

biography

Studies, work and family

He was the second son of the school inspector Emilio Celio and Maria Danzi. After compulsory schooling, Celio received his high school education at the College of the Salesians in Balerna , at the Collegio Leone XII of the Jesuits in Milan and at the College of the Benedictines in Einsiedeln . He then studied philosophy and literature at the University of Friborg . There he headed the Lepontia , the association of Ticino students in the Swiss Student Union . He also chaired the Catholic youth organization Fascio Luigi Rossi . After semesters abroad in Milan and Florence , he finished his studies in 1915 with a thesis on the work of the Italian writer Gabriele D'Annunzio . In 1916 Celio began to work for the conservative newspaper Popolo e Libertà , two years later he took over as its editor-in-chief . After marrying Rosalie Grolimond, he gave up his journalistic career and studied law in Friborg from 1921 . He graduated with a licentiate and then opened a law firm in Biasca .

Cantonal and federal politics

Celio's political career began in 1913 when, at the age of 24, he was elected to the Grand Council of the Canton of Ticino on the side of the Catholic Conservatives . He was a member of the cantonal parliament until 1932 and presided over it in his last year in office. From December 1924 to May 1925, from February 1927 to May 1928 and from June 1930 he was a member of the National Council. In the ordinary elections he narrowly missed entry into the national parliament three times, but then moved up during the legislative period . Celio gave up both parliamentary mandates in August 1932 after he had been elected to the Ticino State Council to succeed the late Giuseppe Cattori . He then took over the chairmanship of the Education and Police Directorate. He opposed the supporters of irredentism and fascism with determination. Nevertheless, after the annexation of Austria , he spoke out against the admission of additional Jewish refugees, because it had to be prevented that “this economically dominant race” would take root in Switzerland.

When Foreign Minister Giuseppe Motta died in January 1940, finding his successor in the Federal Council proved difficult. The Ticino Catholic Conservatives claimed the seat for themselves, but only wanted to appoint a candidate at a later date. Without waiting for it, the parliamentary group proposed Pierre Aeby from Freiburg , Maurice Troillet from Valais and Ruggero Dollfus from Ticino . While Aeby and Dollfus immediately announced their resignation, the Social Democrats put the Ticino State Councilor Guglielmo Canevascini as a candidate. The Ticino liberals found it untenable that two minority parties claimed the seat for themselves and briefly brought federal judge Plinio Bolla into play. After the promising Catholic-Conservative National Councilor Riccardo Rossi had declared his resignation, the parliamentary group decided in favor of Celio, who is almost unknown at the federal level. In the Federal Council election on February 22, 1940, the latter prevailed in the second ballot with 118 of 222 valid votes; Canevascini received 50 votes, Troillet 41 votes and other people 13 votes.

Federal Council

Celio (right) visiting Swissair in Dübendorf (1942)

Immediately after the election, Celio took over the management of the postal and railway departments . He was thus responsible for areas that did not necessarily correspond to his interests. As a newcomer to office, however, he had to be content with the department that his Federal Council colleagues left him with. During the war years he dealt in particular with problems in the transport system that arose in connection with the mobilization of the army. In cooperation with the Swiss Transport Center , he organized advertising campaigns to promote domestic tourism, on the one hand to strengthen the feeling of togetherness among the Swiss and on the other hand to maintain at least some of the jobs in tourist regions.

In 1943 Celio held office for the first time as Federal President . In that year he began a reform of the railway legislation, with which the financial budget of the Swiss Federal Railways was supposed to be put in order. The corresponding federal law was passed in a referendum on January 21, 1945. On the other hand, on February 10, 1946, an article in the constitution for the coordination of freight traffic at the people's and cantons failed . In 1947 a bill that would have given the federal government more powers in the use of hydropower failed in the Council of States . After the end of the war, Celio appeared as a promoter of civil aviation and contributed to the fact that the airports in Basel , Geneva and Zurich could be built quickly. The aviation law passed in his second presidential year in 1948 enabled subsidies to support their technical development. In 1949 and 1950 he was able to agree on subsidies for private railway and shipping companies.

diplomacy

As his tenure progressed, Celio began to feel increasingly disaffected. He complained that it was depressing for a Federal Councilor to constantly be the target of unjustified criticism. On the other hand, it often left a pale and inconspicuous impression. With the death of René de Weck , the Swiss ambassador to Italy , he had the opportunity to take on a new task. On June 22, 1950, he announced his resignation as Federal Councilor and immediately went to Rome to take up his diplomatic post. He held this until the spring of 1955. Celio retired to Lugano , where he lived for another 25 years.

literature

Web links

Commons : Enrico Celio  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Panzera: The Federal Council Lexicon . P. 366.
  2. ^ Panzera: The Federal Council Lexicon . Pp. 366-367.
  3. ^ Bernard Truffer: Maurice Troillet. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . May 14, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Andrea Ghiringhelli: Plinio Bolla. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 5, 2002 .
  5. ^ Panzera: The Federal Council Lexicon . P. 367.
  6. ^ Panzera: The Federal Council Lexicon . P. 368.
  7. ↑ Thomas Campagno: Switzerland declared love. Coopzeitung , May 8, 2017, accessed on May 28, 2019 .
  8. ^ Panzera: The Federal Council Lexicon . Pp. 368-369.
  9. ^ Panzera: The Federal Council Lexicon . P. 369.
predecessor Office successor
Giuseppe Motta Member of the Swiss Federal Council
1940–1950 		Josef Escher
René de Weck Swiss envoy in Rome
1950–1955 		Philippe Zutter
personal data
SURNAME Celio, Enrico
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician (CVP)
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Ambrì
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 1980
Place of death Lugano