Antonio Hodgers (born 7 February 1976 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

) is a

Swiss politician The government of Switzerland is a federal state with direct democracy. * The legislative branch is the Federal Assembly. The Federal Assembly has two parts: the National Council, which represents the public, while the Council of States ...

and member of the

Green Party of Switzerland The Green Party of Switzerland (; ; ; ) is a green political party in Switzerland. It is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council. History The first ...

. He has been Councillor of State of

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

since December 2013, and president of the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

from 13 September 2018 to 17 October 2020.

Biography

Education and early life

The son of a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

father and

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

mother who both opposed the dictatorship in Argentina, he reached

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in 1981 with his sister and mother after having passed through

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. He obtained political refugee status in 1983. Antonio Hodgers studied at the

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (, abbreviated IHEID), commonly referred to as Geneva Graduate Institute, is a graduate-level research university in Geneva, Switzerland dedicated to international relations, dev ...

, receiving a degree in international relations in 1999 and an advanced degree in development studies in 2003. With his interest in entrepreneurship, in 2002 he launched dvdmania.ch, a DVD rental and sale business running on bike delivery, followed by Mobilidée where took on the roles of managing partner and mobility manager in this office of sustainable mobility consulting for public authorities and private companies. He ran the company until his accession to the Council of State in December 2013.

Early political career

Between 1993 and 1996, he sat in the Youth Parliament of

Meyrin Meyrin () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. The main site of CERN, the European particle physics research organisation, is in Meyrin. Meyrin was originally a small agricultural village until the ...

, a municipality of the canton of Geneva, an assembly which he chaired in 1995–1996. His political involvement then continued at a canton level. Between 1998 and 2006, he chaired the association "''J’y vis, J’y vote''" ("I live here, I vote here"), which promotes the political rights of foreign citizens on a municipal level. He would go on to be the campaign manager for referendum campaigns in 2001 and 2005, the date on which foreign nationals in Geneva who have been settled in Switzerland for 8 years obtained the right to vote at local elections. In 1997, he was elected to The Grand Council (Parliament) of Geneva. He was the youngest member of the assembly. He would then go on to be member of the Bureau (1999-2001), and then group chairman (2002 and 2003). Between 2006 and 2008, he was the head of the Genevan branch of the Green Party of Switzerland. He served in the canton's parliament until 2007. In 2007, he was elected to the National Council (Lower house of the Federal Assembly), and then re-elected in 2011, holding the presidency of the Green Party of Switzerland parliamentary group from 2010 onwards, where he was said to represent the "pragmatic" side of the party. In 2012, Antonio Hodgers was one of only a handful of people from

Romandy Romandy ( or ; Arpitan: ''Romandia'')Before World War I, the term French Switzerland () waalso used ( or , , ) is the French-speaking historical and cultural region of Switzerland. In 2020, about 2 million people, or 22.8% of the Swiss pop ...

to be invited — upon official invitation from Jean-Daniel Gerber, the president de the Swiss Public Utility Society — to make the 1 August speech in the Grütli meadows, as part of the

Swiss National Day Swiss National Day (; ; ; ) is the national holiday of Switzerland, set on 1 August. Although the founding of the Swiss Confederacy was first celebrated on this date in 1891 and annually since 1899, it has only been an official holiday since ...

Geneva Councillor of State

On 10 November 2013, he was elected to the Council of State of Geneva. He stepped down from the National Council on 26 November 2013 and was replaced by Anne Mahrer. He was sworn in on 10 December 2013, and took over the former Planning Department, which was reconstructed and renamed the Department of Development, Housing, and Energy (''Département de l'aménagement, du logement et de l'énergie - DALE''). This department is responsible for areas relating to land use development (from cantonal and regional

master planning A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

to construction permits),

housing Housing refers to a property containing one or more Shelter (building), shelter as a living space. Housing spaces are inhabited either by individuals or a collective group of people. Housing is also referred to as a human need and right to ...

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...

, and energy. The department also oversees the Geneva Industrial Services at a political level, and public property foundations. In 1993, Antonio Hodgers also became one of the founders of the "Noctambus", a night-time transport service in Geneva, with a transport network which gradually extended to all Geneva municipalities, then to the

canton of Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms bears the motto "Liberté et patrie" on a white-green bicolou ...

, and neighbouring

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Hodgers also served on the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

for the

Geneva Public Transport Geneva Public Transport (, TPG) operates most of the public transportation system in canton of Geneva, Switzerland, including the city of Geneva. The agency's head office is in Grand-Lancy, Lancy. The TPG operates trams in Geneva, trams, trol ...

(1998-2008). He was re-elected as Councillor of State (in 4th place) on 6 May 2018. He remained in charge of the Department of Development, which found itself supplemented by an environmental division. On 13 September 2018, he was provisionally named president of the Council of State of Geneva as a replacement for

Pierre Maudet Pierre Maudet (born 6 March 1978) is a Swiss and French politician. A former member of FDP.The Liberals, he was the mayor of Geneva from 1 June 2011 to 31 May 2012. Long described as "prodigy" of Swiss politics, Maudet became embroiled in a se ...

who was under criminal proceedings. He was named as the permanent president on 23 January 2019 and left the position as a part of the regular rotation a year later to Anne Emery-Torracinta.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgers, Antonio Green Party of Switzerland politicians 1976 births Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni Living people