Editing René Felber

{{Short description|Swiss politician (1933–2020)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = René Felber
| image               = René Felber 1990.jpg
| office2             = [[List of members of the Swiss Federal Council|Member of the Swiss Federal Council]]
| term_start2         = 1988
| term_end2           = 1993
| predecessor2        = [[Pierre Aubert]]
| successor2          = [[Ruth Dreifuss]]
| office1             = [[President of the Swiss Confederation|President of Switzerland]]
| term_start1         = 1 January 1992
| term_end1           = 31 December 1992
| predecessor1        = [[Flavio Cotti]]
| successor1          = [[Adolf Ogi]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1933|3|14|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Bienne]], Switzerland
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2020|10|18|1933|3|14|df=y}}
| death_place         = 
| party               = 
| caption             = Felber in 1990
}}

'''René Felber''' (14 March 1933 – 18 October 2020) was a Swiss politician. He was a [[member of the Swiss Federal Council]] from 1987 to 1993. In 1992, he served as the [[President of the Swiss Confederation|president of Switzerland]].

==Personal life==
Born 1933 in [[Bienne]], Felber was a teacher in [[Boudevilliers]] and [[Le Locle]] ([[canton of Neuchâtel]]).

Felber died on 18 October 2020 at the age of 87.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2020-10-18|title=L'ancien conseiller fédéral René Felber est décédé|language=fr|work=Le Temps|url=https://www.letemps.ch/suisse/lancien-conseiller-federal-rene-felber-decede|access-date=2020-10-18|issn=1423-3967}}</ref>

==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.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{HDS|4740}}
*{{Swiss Federal Councillor|ren%C3%A9-felber}}
*{{DNB portal|128919213|TYP=}}

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{{succession box | before = [[Pierre Aubert]] | title = [[Member of the Swiss Federal Council]] | years = 1987&ndash;1993 | after = [[Ruth Dreifuss]]}}
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{{Swiss Presidents}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Felber, Rene}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:People from Biel/Bienne]]
[[Category:Members of the Federal Council (Switzerland)]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Swiss Confederation]]
[[Category:Social Democratic Party of Switzerland politicians]]
[[Category:Foreign ministers of Switzerland]]
[[Category:Swiss schoolteachers]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]


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