View source for Joseph Deiss

{{About||the American author|Joseph Jay Deiss}}
{{short description|87th President of the Swiss Confederation}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Joseph Deiss
| image               = Joseph Deiss, 2010 (cropped).jpg
| imagesize           = 
| order               = 
| office              = [[President of the United Nations General Assembly]]
| term_start          = 14 September 2010
| term_end            = 14 September 2011
| vicepresident       = [[Mark Lyall Grant]]
| predecessor         = [[Ali Abdussalam Treki]]
| successor           = [[Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser]]
| office2             = [[List of members of the Swiss Federal Council|Member of the Swiss Federal Council]]
| term_start2         = 1 May 1999
| term_end2           = 31 July 2006
| predecessor2        = [[Flavio Cotti]]
| successor2          = [[Doris Leuthard]]
| office1             = [[President of the Swiss Confederation|President of Switzerland]]
| term_start1         = 1 January 2004
| term_end1           = 31 December 2004
| vicepresident1      = Samuel Schmid
| viceprimeminister1  = 
| deputy1             = 
| president1          = 
| primeminister1      = 
| predecessor1        = [[Pascal Couchepin]]
| successor1          = [[Samuel Schmid]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1946|01|18|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Fribourg]], [[Switzerland]]
| nationality         = Swiss
| party               = [[Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland|Christian Democratic People's Party]]
| profession          = [[Economist]]
| spouse              = 
| children            = 3
| signature           = Joseph Deiss Signature.svg
| alma_mater          = [[University of Fribourg]]|
| caption             = Deiss in 2010
}}

'''Joseph Deiss''' (born 18 January 1946) is a Swiss economist and politician who served as a [[List of members of the Swiss Federal Council|Member of the Swiss Federal Council]] from 1999 to 2006. A member of the [[Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland|Christian Democratic People's Party]] (CVP/PDC), he first headed the [[Federal Department of Foreign Affairs]] (1999–2002) before transferring to the [[Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research|Federal Department of Economic Affairs]] (2003–2006). Deiss was elected [[President of the United Nations General Assembly]] for its [[Sixty-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly|65th session]] in 2010.<ref>{{cite news|last=Emch|first=Rita|title=Swiss named president of UN General Assembly|url=http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/foreign_affairs/Swiss_named_president_of_UN_General_Assembly.html?cid=9081430|access-date=11 June 2010|newspaper=[[Swissinfo]]|date=11 June 2010|archive-date=19 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019162536/http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/foreign_affairs/Swiss_named_president_of_UN_General_Assembly.html?cid=9081430|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Political career ==
=== Legislative and local experience ===

Joseph Deiss started his political career in 1981 as a representative of his party in the [[Grand Council of Fribourg]]. In 1991 he became the president of the cantonal parliament for one year. Between 1982 and 1996 Deiss assumed the mayorship of his home village [[Barberêche]].

In 1991 he was elected to the [[National Council (Switzerland)|National Council]]. From 1995 to 1996 Deiss was vice president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council. In 1996 he was made president of the committee in charge of the total revision of the [[Swiss Federal Constitution]].

=== In the Federal Council ===

Deiss was elected to the [[Federal Council (Switzerland)|Swiss Federal Council]] on 11 March 1999, along with his erstwhile colleague [[Ruth Metzler]]. Together with Adalbert Durrer and Remigio Ratti, he was one of three official candidates proposed by the CVP/PDC for the seat of retiring Federal Councillor [[Flavio Cotti]]. However, the election became a narrow contest between Deiss and [[Peter Hess (Swiss politician)|Peter Hess]], who was favoured by many conservative representatives. Deiss eventually won after the sixth ballot, by 120 to 119 votes.<ref>Official Record of the United Federal Assembly, ''[http://www.parlament.ch/Poly/Download_amtl_Bulletin/99_03/Vbaf9903.pdf AB V 1999 625]''.</ref>

In office, he has headed the following departments:
*[[Federal Department of Foreign Affairs]] (1999–2002)
*[[Federal Department of Economic Affairs]] (2003-2006)

After the failure of [[Ruth Metzler]] [[2003 Swiss Federal Council election|to be re-elected in 2003]], Metzler challenged him for his seat, but lost by 138 votes to 96.  He was subsequently elected [[President of the Swiss Confederation|President of the Confederation]] for 2004, one year earlier than would have been regular. He became the only remaining representative of the CVP in the Council.

On 27 April 2006 Deiss rather unexpectedly resigned as Federal Councillor.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060505231122/http://www.nzz.ch/2006/04/27/il/newzzEMIRIXY2-12.html Bundesrat Deiss tritt zurück], [[NZZ]] Online, April 27, 2006.</ref> The CVP's seat not being contested by the other parties, he was succeeded by the president of the CVP, [[Doris Leuthard]], who took over from Deiss on 1 August 2006.

== Professional career ==
Joseph Deiss studied economics and social sciences for his first degree at the [[University of Fribourg]]. He continued to complete a doctorate at the same university after which he spent some time doing research at [[King's College, Cambridge|King's College]] at the [[University of Cambridge]].

After this period of research Joseph Deiss took on the post of lecturing Economics at the University of Fribourg. In 1983 he was made visiting professor at a number of Swiss universities: [[ETH Zurich]], [[University of Lausanne]] and [[University of Geneva]].

From 1993 to 1996 Joseph Deiss acted as [[National Price Supervisor]]. He then returned to the University of Fribourg to become the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences. At this time at university, Joseph Deiss was also the chairman of the Board of Directors at ''Schumacher AG'' in [[Schmitten, Fribourg|Schmitten]] (FR) and chairman of the [[Raiffeisen (Switzerland)|Raiffeisenbank]] in [[Haut-Lac]], [[Courtepin]] (FR).

In 2009 Joseph Deiss was awarded an honorary degree [[Honorary degree|Doctor Honoris Causa]] from [[Business School Lausanne]] in recognition of his achievements to reinforce and expand the political and economic position of Switzerland.

== Personal life ==
Deiss is married and has three sons.

Joseph Deiss is an Honorary Member of [http://www.raoulwallenberg.net The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation]
Joseph Deiss is an Honorary Member of [http://www.afis-int.org AFIS Swiss International Civil Servants Association]

== Works ==
*''Manuel d'économie politique'', with Danielle Meuwly, 1st edition 1994, reedited.
*''Initiation à l'économie politique : analyse économique de la Suisse'', 1st edition 1982, reedited.
*''Economie politique et politique économique de la Suisse'', 1st edition 1979, reedited.
*''The regional adjustment process and regional monetary policy'', 1978.
*''La théorie pure des termes de l'échange international'', doctorate thesis, 1971.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20030220201749/http://www.evd.admin.ch/evd/portrait/lebenslauf/index.html?lang=en Official biography]
*{{HDS|43253}}
*{{Swiss Federal Councillor|joseph-deiss}}
*{{Parliament.ch|58|language=French}}
*{{DNB portal|121460053|TYP=}}

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{{succession box | before = [[Ali Abdussalam Treki]] | title = [[President of the United Nations General Assembly]] | years = 2010–2011 | after = [[Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser]] }}
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{{succession box | before = [[Flavio Cotti]] | title = [[Member of the Swiss Federal Council]] | years = 1999-2006 | after = [[Doris Leuthard]]}}
{{succession box | before = [[Pascal Couchepin]] | title = [[President of the Swiss Confederation]] | years = 2004 | after = [[Samuel Schmid]] }}
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{{Swiss Presidents}}
{{Presidents of the UN General Assembly}}

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[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:21st-century Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Fribourg]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Geneva]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Foreign ministers of Switzerland]]
[[Category:Mayors of places in Switzerland]]
[[Category:Members of the Federal Council (Switzerland)]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Swiss Confederation]]
[[Category:People from Fribourg]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly]]
[[Category:Swiss economists]]
[[Category:Swiss Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:University of Fribourg alumni]]
[[Category:Agriculture ministers of Switzerland]]