Balthasar Glättli (born 12 February 1972) is a Swiss politician. He is a member of the National Council and, was the president 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 ...

from June 2020 until April 2024.

Early life and education

Glättli was born 12 February 1972 in

Zürich, Switzerland Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, to Rolf Glättli and Silvia Glättli (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Züblin), both elementary school teachers. His younger brother is

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

Kaspar Singer (

né The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Glättli). He completed his Matura at Kantonsschule Zürcher Oberland and then studied

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

at the

University of Zürich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

between 1991 and 1996 and ultimately resumed studies from 2009-2014, but did not graduate with a degree.

Political career

Glättli joined the

in 1991 and was elected as board member of the cantonal section in Zürich. Between 1998 and 2011 he represented Zürich-Seefeld in the parliament of the city of Zürich. He was elected to the National Council in the Swiss federal election in October 2011, and re-elected in October 2015. From December 2013 until June 2020, he was President of the Green parliamentarian Group. From 2004 to 2008 Glättli was co-president of the cantonal GPS party, in co-operation with Marlies Bänziger. Between June 2020 and April 2024 he was President of the Green Party.

Mandatory work

Between 2010 and 2012 Glättli was in charge of the campaigns of the

Swiss Union of Public Service Personnel The Swiss Union of Public Service Personnel (, VPOD; ) is a trade union representing public sector workers in Switzerland. The union was founded in 1905, as the Swiss Municipal and State Workers' Union. In 1920, it absorbed the Swiss Tram Union, a ...

, and currently he presides the ''Mieterverband Deutschschweiz'', the Swiss German section of the union of tenants, and is vice-president of the Swiss national

Mieterverband Mieterverband, meaning the association of the Leasehold estate, tenants and commonly shortened to ''MV'', is a Switzerland, Swiss nonprofit organization that was founded in 1915 in Zürich. Its full and political correct name is Mieterinnen- und ...

. He is a member of various NGO's like the Erklärung von Bern, Amnesty International Switzerland and

Greenpeace Switzerland Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

Personal life

Balthasar Glättli graduated

Maturität or its translated terms (''mature'', ''matur'', , , , , ', ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...

at the gymnasium in Wetzikon in 1991, and studied philosophy, linguistics and German literature at the University of Zurich. Glättli directs a web design and consulting company, is married to the Swiss politician

Min Li Marti Min Li Marti (born 1 June 1974 in Bern) is a Swiss sociologist, historian, publisher and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP). Early life and career Min Li Marti was born in Bern as the daughter of her refugee Chinese ...

. They live with their daughter in Zürich-Wipkingen.

References

External links

* * 1972 births Green Party of Switzerland politicians Living people Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2023–2027 Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2019–2023 Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2011–2015 Politicians from Zurich Swiss businesspeople Swiss sociologists University of Zurich alumni 20th-century Swiss politicians {{switzerland-stub