Editing René Felber (section)

==Political career==
He was mayor of Le Locle from 1964 to 1980 (in charge of gas and electricity supply and then of Finance), member of the Cantonal Parliament of Neuchâtel (1965–1976). He sat in the [[National Council of Switzerland|National Council]] from 1967 to 1981 when he became a member of the [[Conseil d'Etat (Switzerland)|Conseil d'Etat]] (State Council) of the canton of Neuchâtel in charge of the Finance Department until his election to the Federal Council. In 1980/81, he was the floor leader of the [[Social Democratic Party of Switzerland|Social Democratic Party]] in the Federal Parliament.

He was elected to the [[Swiss Federal Council]] on 9 December 1987 as member of the [[Canton of Neuchâtel]] and for the Social Democratic Party.

During his time in office, he headed the [[Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (Switzerland)|Federal Department of Foreign Affairs]] and was [[President of the Confederation (Switzerland)|President of the Confederation]] in 1992. Felber fought for Swiss membership in the [[European Economic Area]], a proposal that was narrowly defeated in a referendum on 6 December 1992.

He resigned from the council on 31 March 1993 for health reasons.