Pierre Aubert

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Pierre Aubert

Pierre Aubert (born March 3, 1927 in La Chaux-de-Fonds , † June 8, 2016 in Neuchâtel ; resident in Savagnier ) was a Swiss politician ( SP ). After graduating, he worked as a freelance lawyer . From 1960 to 1968 he was a member of the municipal legislature of the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds, from 1961 to 1975 the Grand Council of the Canton of Neuchâtel . Elected to the Council of States in 1971 , he represented Switzerland in the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe from 1974 . After he was elected to the Federal Council in December 1977 , he took over the management of the Department of Foreign Affairs at the beginning of 1978 ; in 1983 and 1987 he was Federal President . As Foreign Minister, he pursued a resolute opening course and turned away from the traditional view of Swiss neutrality , which was based on non-interference. Instead, he campaigned for human rights around the world and established contacts with numerous countries in the Third World . His main concern, Switzerland's accession to the United Nations , failed due to resistance from conservative circles. At the end of 1987 he resigned.

biography

Studies, work and family

Aubert came from a Huguenot family who fled France after the Edict of Fontainebleau at the end of the 17th century and settled in the Val de Ruz . He was the son of Jules-Alfred and Susanne-Henriette (née Erni). His father worked as a lawyer and notary , his cousin was the well-known constitutional lawyer and liberal politician Jean-François Aubert . After graduating from high school in his hometown of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Aubert studied law at the University of Neuchâtel from 1945 . During his studies he joined the section of the Zofingia student association there . After graduating with a licentiate and admitted to the bar, he began working as a freelance lawyer in 1952, specializing in criminal law. In 1953 he married Anne-Lise Borel, with whom he had two children.

Cantonal and federal politics

After being persuaded by friends to do so, Aubert joined the Social Democratic Party in 1958 . He justified this with the fact that “nothing disgusts him more than injustice”. He was not interested in a strict doctrine and initially did not seek political office. In 1961, however, he was persuaded by the party to run for the municipal legislature (conseil général) of the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. After a successful election, he was a member of this body until 1968 and presided over it in his last year in office. In 1961, he successfully ran for the canton parliament (grand conseil) of the canton of Neuchâtel . His mandate at the cantonal level lasted until 1975, when he was President of Parliament in 1969. In 1971, Neuchâtel was one of the last cantons to introduce popular elections for the Council of States . Aubert did not campaign; nevertheless, in the second ballot, he succeeded in asserting himself against Blaise Clerc from the Liberal Party . Also from 1971 he presided over the university council in Neuchâtel.

At the federal level, Aubert earned great respect. His fellow councilors particularly valued his pragmatism, his measured approach and his aversion to dogmatism and ideologies. From 1974 he was a delegate of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and worked there as general rapporteur for the political commission (from May to November 1981 he chaired the committee of ministers). In the autumn of 1977, Pierre Graber and Ernst Brugger , two members of the Federal Council, announced their resignation at the end of January 1978. For Graber's successor, the Neuchâtel SP proposed National Councilor René Felber , who, in contrast to Aubert, was considered an articulate speaker. But the SP parliamentary group in the Federal Assembly preferred Aubert. In the Federal Council election on December 7, 1977, he was elected in the first ballot with 190 of 232 votes. On Ezio Canonica accounted for 24 votes, at René Felber twelve votes and more people six votes.

Federal Council

In 1987, Pierre Aubert chairs a Federal Council meeting as Federal President (far left)

On February 1, 1978, Aubert took over the management of the Political Department (from 1979 called the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs ). Until well into the 1960s, trips abroad were frowned upon by federal councilors because they were viewed as wasteful and useless. Under the Social Democratic Foreign Ministers Willy Spühler and Pierre Graber, there was a rethink, albeit tentatively at first. Aubert, however, significantly expanded diplomatic relations. As a result, he often had to deal with harsh criticism from the right-wing political spectrum, especially in German-speaking Switzerland. In particular, he was accused of weak leadership in the management of the department after he had dismissed the experienced State Secretary Albert Weitnauer in August 1980 . He also had to put up with the charge (often unjustifiably) of acting with little diplomatic skill and of jeopardizing Switzerland's traditional neutrality .

During his tenure, Aubert made more than 55 trips abroad, 39 of which were official visits. His opponents criticized him for traveling around haphazardly and with no discernible strategy. In fact, he pursued a clear goal: Switzerland should no longer be viewed as a mere trading partner, but rather set a good example and campaign for human rights around the world , including within the framework of the CSCE . Accordingly, he often visited countries in which no Swiss foreign minister had ever been, but which were supported by Swiss development aid. This included states in sub-Saharan Africa , Latin America and the Middle East . Aubert demanded regular reports on the human rights situation from the diplomatic missions abroad. In doing so, he broke with the previous practice of proceeding extremely discreetly on issues of human rights and, if possible, not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. Right-wing bourgeois circles accused him of being too cheeky, of violating the rules of non-interference and of being guided by a naive, sentimental idealism.

In his first years in office, Aubert's foreign policy activities were so controversial that he was only just barely confirmed in office in the Federal Council election in December 1979 with 124 of 246 votes. But he was not deterred by this and continued on the opening course he had taken. At the same time, Switzerland never actively participated in economic embargoes under Aubert , but only tried, as before, to prevent excessively blatant circumvention of sanctions. On the other hand, in internal conflicts he always tried to involve all conflicting parties in a dialogue, which would have been completely unthinkable before: In the Middle East conflict , Aubert met both with the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization . Regarding apartheid , he took a clear stand when he refused to meet South African President Pieter Willem Botha while in Switzerland, but later officially received ANC President Oliver Tambo . In 1983 he served as Federal President for the first time ; The highlight was the state visit by French President François Mitterrand , with whom he got along very well and whom he also met privately to discuss general political issues.

Aubert was seen as very courteous and personable, but was also extremely public shy and avoided the media as best he could. The SP party leadership resented the fact that his relationship with his comrades remained aloof, that he did not influence opinion-forming in the parliamentary group and that his policy was badly sold. Aubert's reticence is also seen as the main cause of his worst political defeat. In March 1982 the Federal Council decided to aim for Switzerland to join the United Nations (UN). Immediately afterwards, the “Action Committee against UN membership” was formed, which dominated the debate with emotional campaigns and completely pushed the Foreign Minister into a corner. The opponents of membership considered UN membership incompatible with the “ special case of Switzerland ” and feared that neutrality was at stake. Although the parliament approved the accession in December 1984, this failed in the referendum of March 16, 1986 with 75.7% of the votes. Another 14 years should pass before accession.

Resignation and other activities

As early as 1985, SP party president Helmut Hubacher had suggested in a parliamentary group meeting that Aubert should step down. He later said of him that he was "a very nice guy, but unfortunately desperate as a Federal Councilor". In general he thought he was a wrong choice; It was only thanks to State Secretary Edouard Brunner's tight management that the boss's weakness did not become public during his tenure. Aubert served as Federal President for the second time in 1987 and then announced his resignation at the end of the year. He was appointed Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honor and received the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. For a number of years he took over the presidency of the Montagnes neuchâteloises section of the Touring Club Switzerland and the vice-presidency of the Switzerland-Israel Society . Then he withdrew from the public. He died in 2016 at the age of 89.

literature

Web links

Commons : Pierre Aubert  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ bereavement Aubert Pierre. todesangebote.ch, 2016, accessed on June 1, 2019 .
  2. ^ Zala, Stauffer: Das Bundesratslexikon. P. 550.
  3. ^ Zala, Stauffer: Das Bundesratslexikon. Pp. 550-551.
  4. ↑ An idealist on hard ground. Rote Revue , November 1987, pp. 2–3 , accessed June 1, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b Zala, Stauffer: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 551.
  6. ^ Zala, Stauffer: Das Bundesratslexikon. P. 555.
  7. ^ Zala, Stauffer: Das Bundesratslexikon. Pp. 552-553.
  8. ^ Zala, Stauffer: Das Bundesratslexikon. P. 554.
  9. ^ Georg Kreis : Switzerland and South Africa 1948–1994 . Peter Lang, Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-03911-498-6 , pp. 80 .
  10. ↑ Urs Marti: Advocate of an open foreign policy. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , June 10, 2016, accessed on June 1, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Richard Diethelm: A Federal Councilor who was not responsible for governing. Basler Zeitung , June 9, 2016, accessed on June 1, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Angelika Hardegger: The "special case" in danger. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , March 20, 2017, accessed on June 1, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Helmut Hubacher : I was happy to do that . Zytglogge Verlag, Bern 2016, ISBN 978-3-7296-2116-9 .
  14. ↑ Décès de l'ancien ministre suisse Pierre Aubert. Swissinfo , June 9, 2016, accessed June 1, 2019 (French).
  15. ↑ conferimento di onorificenze dell'Ordine "Al Merito della Repubblica Italiana". Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana , July 24, 1992, accessed June 1, 2019 (Italian).
  16. ^ Zala, Stauffer: Das Bundesratslexikon. Pp. 554-555.
predecessor Office successor
Pierre Graber Member of the Swiss Federal Council
1978–1987 		René Felber
personal data
SURNAME Aubert, Pierre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH La Chaux-de-Fonds
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 2016
Place of death Neuchâtel