STÉPHANE HERZOG Are there a lot of train connections between Geneva and the French station of Chancy-Pougny? “18 trains a day,” Rudi Berli answers straightaway, seated at his table at home, a beautiful house in the French countryside, 15 minutes’ walk from the Rhône and thus from the Swiss border. “We would never have been able to buy a house in Switzerland,” explains the Zurich native, born in the rural town of Hausen am Albis (Zurich). When he was a child, taking the bus to the big city of Zurich took an hour. Nowadays, it takes half that time. “Everything there is connected and hyper-efficient,” remarks this man of the land who, like other Geneva politicians, feels that Geneva deserves greater consideration, particularly with regard to the development of public transport. From now on, Rudi Berli will pass on these messages directly to Berne, since he will be replacing his party colleague Nicolas Walder in the National Council. A market gardener, who is employed by the Les Jardins de Cocagne cooperative, Berli sells his organic products in Geneva. Over the summer, he prepared himself for the idea of playing a role in federal politics, after the original deputy, Isabelle Pasquier-Eichenberger, announced she was dropping out. The election of Nicolas Walder to the Geneva Cantonal Council on 19 October then paved his way to the Federal Parliament. What will Berli do in Berne? The father and family man intends to defend his region and its million inhabitants (residing in Geneva and the surrounding areas in Vaud and France). The village in which he lives, Pougny, reflects the region as a whole. On 14 July, the Swiss cross the Rhône to take part in French national day festivities. On 1 August, the French party in Chancy. “People will go dancing wherever there are dances,” the new National Councillor says. The rural section of the region in France bears host to numerous cross-border workers. These villages share family connections too. Rudi Berli is not anti-European, but he champions two major principles: the defence of the work of farmA Swiss farmer living in France becomes National Councillor Genevan by adoption Rudi Berli is to replace Green National Councillor Nicolas Walder in Berne. His election as a Swiss Abroad is very unusual. He has promised to represent his region, the Franco-Vaud-Geneva region of Greater Geneva. ers and craftspeople in the region – which he calls relocalisation – and the protection of the products of agriculture through taxes. “It is possible to achieve this, even within the European Union,” he says. Berli, who came to Geneva in 1985 to train at the Lullier School, where he gained several qualifications (fruit tree cultivation, market gardening and landscape gardening, amongst others), Rudi Berli, as he has expressed his political views up until now: through a megaphone at farmers’ protest meetings. Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / February 2026 / No.1 26 Profile
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