Editing Flavio Cotti

{{Short description|Swiss politician (1939–2020)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Flavio Cotti
| image               = Dodis-P25146-F4.jpg
| caption             = Cotti in 1997
| office3             = [[List of members of the Swiss Federal Council|Member of the Swiss Federal Council]]
| term_start3         = 1 January 1987
| term_end3           = 30 April 1999
| predecessor3        = Alphons Egli
| successor3          = [[Joseph Deiss]]
| office1             = [[President of the Swiss Confederation|President of Switzerland]]
| term_start1         = 1 January 1991
| term_end1           = 31 December 1991
| predecessor1        = [[Arnold Koller]]
| successor1          = [[René Felber]]
| term_start2         = 1 January 1998
| term_end2           = 31 December 1998
| predecessor2        = Arnold Koller
| successor2          = [[Ruth Dreifuss]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1939|10|18|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Prato-Sornico]], Switzerland
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2020|12|16|1939|10|18|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Locarno]], Switzerland
| party               = [[Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland|Christian Democratic People's Party]]
}}
'''Flavio Cotti''' (18 October 1939<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Flavio Cotti|url=https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/bundesrat/mitglieder-des-bundesrates/flavio-cotti.html|access-date=17 December 2020|publisher=The Federal Council}}</ref>{{spnd}}16 December 2020) was a Swiss politician who served as member of the [[Federal Council (Switzerland)|Federal Council]] from 1986 to 1999. He was a member of the [[Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland|Christian Democratic People's Party]] from the [[canton of Ticino]]. In the 1990s, Cotti led the Swiss government's unsuccessful attempts to further Switzerland's [[European integration|political integration]] into the [[European Union]]. He was [[President of the Confederation (Switzerland)|President of the Confederation]] in 1991 and 1998 and headed the departments of [[Federal Department of Home Affairs|Home Affairs]] and [[Federal Department of Foreign Affairs|Foreign Affairs]].

== Early life and political career ==
Cotti was born in [[Muralto]]. After studies of law in [[Fribourg]], he practised law in Locarno and pursued a political career in his native [[Canton of Ticino|Ticino]].<ref name=":3">{{HDS|4738}}</ref>

In 1962, he headed the newly founded ''Partito popolare democratico ticinese''. In 1981 he was elected president of the cantonal Christian Democratic Party, and served as president of the national party from 1981 to 1984.<ref name=":3" />

Cotti was a member of the cantonal parliament from 1962 to 1975. He was elected to the cantonal government of Ticino in 1975.<ref name=":3" /> In 1983, he was elected to the national parliament's lower house, the [[National Council (Switzerland)|National Council]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Foppa|first=Daniel|date=16 December 2020|title=Zum Tod von Alt-Bundesrat Flavio Cotti – Der Europäer|url=https://www.derbund.ch/der-europaeer-565189573930|access-date=16 December 2020|website=[[Der Bund]]|language=de}}</ref>

== Federal Council ==
Cotti was elected to the [[Federal Council of Switzerland]] on 10 December 1986, succeeding [[Alphons Egli]], and resigned on 30 April 1999.<ref name=":1" /> During his time in office he headed the [[Department of Home Affairs (Switzerland)|Federal Department of Home Affairs]] (1987–1993)<ref name=":1" /> and the [[Federal Department of Foreign Affairs]] (1994–1999).<ref name=":1" /> He was [[President of the Confederation (Switzerland)|President of the Confederation]] twice, first in 1991 and then again in 1998.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Presidents of the Confederation|url=https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/bundespraesidium/bundespraesidenten-und-schweizer-geschichte/praesidenten-seit1848-liste.html|access-date=17 December 2020|publisher=The Federal Council}}</ref>

Cotti's political philosophy was one of optimistic [[globalism]], and he liked to be seen as a visionary and as an ''[[homme des lettres]]''.<ref name=":0" /> A convinced [[Pro-Europeanism|Europhile]], Cotti was instrumental in bringing about the Federal Council's 1992 decision to seek Swiss membership of the [[European Union]] – a move that backfired a few months later when Swiss voters rejected membership in the [[European Economic Area]], blocking further Swiss integration with the EU.<ref name=":0" /> In this and other areas, Cotti's visions proved incompatible with Switzerland's complicated and slow [[consensus politics]], which earned him the nickname of "minister of announcements" (''Ankündigungsminister'').<ref name=":0" />

As Switzerland's foreign minister since 1994, Cotti helped salvage [[Switzerland–European Union relations|Switzerland's relationship with the EU]] by negotiating and concluding a series of treaties that now govern Swiss–EU relations.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Keystone-SDA/jdp|title=Former Swiss president and UN champion Flavio Cotti dies|url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/former-swiss-president-and-un-champion-flavio-cotti-dies--/46229758|access-date=17 December 2020|website=[[Swissinfo]]|date=17 December 2020 |language=en}}</ref> He led Swiss negotiations to settle [[World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks|claims of Holocaust survivors against Switzerland and Swiss banks]].<ref name=":4" /> He was a strong advocate of Switzerland's accession to the [[United Nations]], which voters only agreed to after his time in office in 2002.<ref name=":4" /> Cotti also prominently represented the country abroad, gaining international recognition as the first Swiss president of the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|OSCE]].<ref name=":0" />

== Post-ministerial life ==
After retiring from politics, Cotti served in leading advisory positions in major Swiss companies, including on the board of [[Credit Suisse]].<ref name=":0" />

Cotti died from [[COVID-19]] on 16 December 2020, at the age of 81, during the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=16 December 2020|title=Ex-Bundesrat Flavio Cotti ist tot|url=https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/ex-bundesrat-flavio-cotti-ist-tot|access-date=16 December 2020|website=Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF)|language=de}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Swiss Federal Councillor|flavio-cotti}}
*{{DNB portal|119075555|TYP=}}

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{{succession box | before = [[Alphons Egli]] | title = [[Member of the Swiss Federal Council]] | years = 1986&ndash;1999 | after = [[Joseph Deiss]]}}
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{{Swiss Presidents}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotti, Flavio}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the Federal Council (Switzerland)]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Swiss Confederation]]
[[Category:Interior ministers of Switzerland]]
[[Category:People from Ticino]]
[[Category:Swiss Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Foreign ministers of Switzerland]]
[[Category:Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland]]
[[Category:20th-century Swiss politicians]]