Guy Bernard Parmelin (; born 9 November 1959) is a Swiss politician, who served as president of Switzerland in 2021, having previously served as vice president of Switzerland in 2020. A member of the

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (german: Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP; rm, Partida populara Svizra, PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (french: Union démocratique du centre, UDC; it, Unione Democratica di Centro, UDC), is a nati ...

(SVP/UDC), he has been a

member of the Swiss Federal Council Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

since 2016. Parmelin has served as head of the Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research since 2019, previously heading the Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports between 2016 and 2018. (Page visited on 9 December 2015).

Biography

Early political career

A master wine grower by trade, he was elected to the

Grand Council of Vaud The Grand Council of Vaud (french: Grand Conseil de Vaud) is the legislature of the canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. Vaud has a unicameral legislature. The Great Council has 150 seats, with members elected every five years. The last electi ...

from 1994 until 2003, when he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

to the National Council for the

canton of Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...

. From 2000 to 2004, Parmelin was also president of the

of the

. On 9 December 2015, he was elected by the Federal Assembly to the Federal Council in replacement of

Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (born 16 March 1956) is a Swiss politician and lawyer who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2008 to 2015. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) until 2008, she has since then been a member of the ...

Member of the Federal Council

After the

won a record vote of over 29% in the 2015 general election, Federal Councillor

announced she would not run for reelection. She had been expelled from the SVP/UDC shortly after her election and then founded the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD). The SVP/UDC was expected to take Widmer-Schlumpf's seat; it put forward three candidates, including Parmelin, who was ultimately

Parmelin became the first SVP/UDC Federal Councillor from the

French-speaking part of Switzerland Romandy (french: Romandie or )Before World War I, the term French Switzerland (french: Suisse française) waalso used german: Romandie or , it, Romandia, rm, Romanda) is the Swiss French, French-speaking part of western Switzerland. In 2020, ...

. He was selected to become head of the

Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports The Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS, german: Eidgenössisches Departement für Verteidigung, Bevölkerungsschutz und Sport, french: Département fédéral de la défense, de la protection de la population et des ...

, replacing fellow party member

Ueli Maurer Ulrich "Ueli" Maurer (; born 1 December 1950) is a Swiss politician who has served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council since 2009. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), he was President of the Swiss Confederation in 2013 and 2019 ...

, who became head of the

Federal Department of Finance The Federal Department of Finance (FDF, german: Eidgenössisches Finanzdepartement, links=no, french: Département fédéral des finances, links=no, it, Dipartimento federale delle finanze, links=no, rm, ) is one of the seven departments of ...

. Starting in 2019, Parmelin became the head of the

Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research The Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER, german: Eidgenössisches Departement für Wirtschaft, Bildung und Forschung; french: Département fédéral de l'économie, de la formation et de la recherche; it, Dipart ...

. He served as Vice President of Switzerland for 2020. He assumed the presidency on 1 January 2021 along Vice President

Ignazio Cassis Ignazio Daniele Giovanni Cassis (; born 13 April 1961) is a Swiss physician and politician who has served as President of the Swiss Confederation since 1 January 2022. A member of FDP.The Liberals, FDP. The Liberals, he has been a List of member ...

. On 16 June 2021, as President of Switzerland, Parmelin hosted the 2021 Russia–United States summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva between

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

and Joe Biden. He wished them "a fruitful dialogue, in the interests of

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

two countries, and the world".

References

External links

* * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Parmelin, Guy 1959 births Living people Members of the National Council (Switzerland) Members of the Federal Council (Switzerland) Swiss People's Party politicians People from Nyon District 20th-century Swiss politicians 21st-century Swiss politicians