Rudi Berli, a member of the Green Party, lives in France and works in the Geneva countryside. He is only the fourth Swiss expatriate to hold a parliamentary seat but that is not the only thing that sets him apart. The first unusual thing is that Rudi Berli had only six weeks to prepare to be a parliamentarian. On October 19, the 61-year-old organic farmer learned he would be succeeding Green Party parliamentarian Nicolas Walder, who was elected to the Geneva government. Berli took his seat on December 1. The race against time had begun: he had to resign from his position as secretary with the farmers’ union Uniterre, find accommodation in Bern, and reduce his working hours at the community farm where he works. There is, however, no question of him permanently swapping his farming gear for the formal attire of a parliamentarian. “I want to continue working so that I can stay in touch with the land and maintain a balance between physical and intellectual work,” says Berli, as he sits ...
