keystone
Andre Simonazzi, Spokesperson and Deputy Prime Minister of the Governing Federal Council, has died.
Simonazzi died at the age of 55 after collapsing while hiking on Friday, the Federal Prime Minister's Office announced on Saturday. Simonazzi, who was born in Montet in canton Valais in 1968, was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Spokesperson of the Bundestag in November 2008. Since 2009, he has been participating in Congressional meetings, taking minutes and responsible for meeting communications.
The location where the fatal accident occurred has not been determined. A spokesperson for the prime minister's office told news outlet Keystone-ATS that his replacement had not yet been chosen as of late Saturday afternoon.
The Federal Prime Minister paid tribute to Andre Simonazzi, saying he was “a servant of the nation in the highest sense of the word.'' Simonazzi graduated with a degree in International Relations.he was trained as a journalist le nouvelleist. From 1995 until 1998 he worked for the NGO Caritas as spokesperson for Francophone Switzerland in Switzerland. In 1998 he took over the General Information Department.
Then, in 2004, he joined the Information Directorate of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). He was initially Deputy Director of Information and Public Affairs for French-speaking Switzerland.
Adapted from French by Deepl/ac
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