Oswald Sigg (born 1944 in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. In August 2005, he was elected

Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland The Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland was initially named Federal Secretary (''Bundesschreiber''). The title of the Vice-Chancellor was established in 1851, first as Federal Chancellor Deputy, then formally as Vice-Chancellor in 1881. In order to prov ...

and

Spokesman A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

of the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

of Switzerland, the

Swiss Federal Council The Federal Council (german: Bundesrat; french: Conseil fédéral; it, Consiglio federale; rm, Cussegl federal) is the executive body of the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state and governme ...

. He served as Spokesman until his retirement on 31 March 2009. Sigg studied sociology and economics in

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website ...

, Paris and

Berne german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

. After graduating, he served as deputy spokesperson for the Federal Chancellery between 1975 and 1980, then as a spokesperson for the

Federal Department of Finance The Federal Department of Finance (FDF, german: Eidgenössisches Finanzdepartement, links=no, french: Département fédéral des finances, links=no, it, Dipartimento federale delle finanze, links=no, rm, ) is one of the seven departments of ...

(1975-1980), the

Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport The Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS, german: Eidgenössisches Departement für Verteidigung, Bevölkerungsschutz und Sport, french: Département fédéral de la défense, de la protection de la population et des ...

(1998-2004) and the

Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications The Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC, german: Eidgenössisches Departement für Umwelt, Verkehr, Energie und Kommunikation, french: Département fédéral de l'environnement, des transports, de l'én ...

(2004-2005), under five different Federal Councillors. He also worked as editor-in-chief for the

Swiss Telegraphic Agency The Swiss Telegraphic Agency (German: ''Schweizerische Depeschenagentur'', SDA; French: ''Agence télégraphique suisse'', ATS; Italian: ''Agenzia telegrafica svizzera'', ATS; branded as Keystone-SDA/Keystone-ATS since 27 April 2018) is the natio ...

(1988-1990) and spokesman for the management of the

Swiss Broadcasting Corporation The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (german: Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft; french: Société suisse de radiodiffusion et télévision; it, Società svizzera di radiotelevisione; rm, Societad Svizra da Radio e Televisiun; SRG ...

between 1991 and 1997. He was one of the figureheads behind the

popular initiative In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a p ...

for an unconditional

basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...

submitted to popular vote in 2016. After beginning his political career with the BGB (the future

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (german: Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP; rm, Partida populara Svizra, PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (french: Union démocratique du centre, UDC; it, Unione Democratica di Centro, UDC), is a nati ...

), he is a member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

since 1973.

Works

*
Political Switzerland
' (translated from ''Die politische Schweiz''), 1997,

References

Living people 1944 births Swiss journalists University of St. Gallen alumni {{Switzerland-journalist-stub