The “von Wattenwyl talks” and the search for a compromise

Since February 1970 the Federal Councillors have been meeting with the leaders of the parties in the Swiss Executive in the “old town” of Bern to discuss current Swiss affairs

The Federal Councillors of the Swiss Confederation meet regularly with the heads of the parties represented in the Swiss executive to discuss current Swiss issues.
The so-called “von Wattenwyl meetings” date back to 1970 and take their name from the villa in Bern’s “old town”, which is owned by the state and has traditionally been the venue for these meetings.
The meetings were established in order to facilitate the search for shared solutions in a government of concordance and the meetings take place especially before the sessions of the Federal Chambers.

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The northern façade of the von Wattenwyl House at 59 Junkerngasse in Bern’s ‘old town’.

A custom due to Chancellor Karl Huber

The rounds of talks that regularly precede each session of the Federal Assembly were established at the time when Karl Huber was Chancellor of the Confederation.
Their purpose was to work out shared solutions between the four parties represented in the Federal Council (Liberal Radical Party, People’s Democratic Party, Socialist Party, Central Democratic Union), after the composition of the national government according to the “magic formula” had been established in 1959.
Since their inception, the main purpose of the meetings is the exchange of ideas and free debate.

Debut in the West Wing of the Federal Building, after which….

The first of these rounds of debates took place in February 1970, again in the West Wing of the Federal Palace.
On the agenda were, among other things, measures to mitigate “economic overheating“.
The first meeting that actually took place in the von Wattenwyl House was presumably on 15 June 1970.
Already at the end of that summer month, the invitation referred to the “traditional free discussion with the chairmen of the parties and parliamentary groups represented in the government”.
The term “von Wattenwyl talks” first appeared in the mid-1970s, but only came into common use in the following decade.

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The rooms of the House of Wattenwyl may only be used by members of the Federal Council and the Chancellor of the Confederation, the sole owner of the elegant building in the capital.
The Confederation uses it for official receptions, but also for signing international agreements and conducting political talks of various kinds.
The Federal Chancellery is responsible for reservations; the Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics is responsible for the maintenance of the residence and the care of the valuable historical inventory; the Federal Office for Culture is responsible for the works of art in the residence.

The long history of the House of Beatrice von Wattenwyl

The Beatrice von Wattenwyl House in Bern’s Old Town dates back to 1446.
In 1934, Jakob Emanuel von Wattenwyl donated this patrician home to the Swiss Confederation on behalf of his wife, who had died five years earlier and was baptized Beatrice.
The Béatrice-von-Wattenwyl-Haus (also known as the Frisching-Haus because of the surname of the original owners) is located at 59 Junkerngasse, just a few steps from Erlacherhof.
The building consists of three interconnected medieval houses, a circumstance still visible in the northern facade, on which the main entrance to the building opens.

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Between 1695 and 1710, the palace was rebuilt and remodeled by architect Joseph Abeille on the orders of its owner, Bernese patrician Samuel Frisching, an ancestor of Franz Rudolf Frisching. He added the elegant Louis XIV-style southern facade overlooking the Aare River.
The palace is still furnished with the original furniture, mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as with many portraits of members of the Frisching and von Wattenwyl families, the latter having taken over ownership of the property in 1838.
The palace has the largest terraced garden of all private residences in the so-called “old town” area of the Swiss capital.
The house is open to the public four times a year, including during the “Night of the Museums” in Bern.