NEW GOVERNMENT FORMED IN LIECHTENSTEIN

UNCLAS BERN 000132 C O R R E C T E D C O P Y -- PARA 1 MISSING TEXT SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL LS SUBJECT: NEW GOVERNMENT FORMED IN LIECHTENSTEIN REF: BERN 62 -------------- NEW GOVERNMENT SWORN-IN ON MARCH 25 -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The Patriotic Union (Vaterlaendische Union, VU) party of Liechtenstein won an absolute majority of parliamentary (Landtag) seats in the February 8 national elections (reftel). In the wake of this surprising outcome, the VU could have opted to seek to form a government alone, without the participation of Liechtenstein's other major political party, the Progressive Citizen's Party (FBP). However, referring to campaign promises, VU lead candidate -- and Liechtenstein's new prime minister -- Klaus Tschuetscher negotiated with the FBP to form a coalition government. Former PM Otmar Hasler's FBP party was the senior party in Liechtenstein's previous FBP-VU coalition. ¶2. (U) On March 25, the Landtag confirmed the new VU-FBP coalition government in a vote of 24 to 1, and the 42-year-old Tschuetscher was sworn in as Liechtenstein's new prime minister by Hereditary Prince Alois. Tschuetscher subsequently administered the oaths of office to the other four government ministers. Under the VU-FBP coalition agreement, the VU has the prime ministership and two other ministerial positions in the government; the FBP has two minister posts. Below is a list of the ministers and their portfolios: -- Dr. Klaus Tschuetscher (VU): Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of General Government Affairs, Minister of Family Affairs and Equal Opportunity; -- Dr. Martin Meyer (FBP): Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economics, Minister of Transportation, Minister of Construction and Public Works; -- Hugo Quaderer (VU): Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Education, Minister of Sports; -- Dr. Renate Muessner (VU): Minister of Health, Minister of Social Affairs, Minister of Environmental, Land Use Planning, Agricultural and Forestry Affairs; -- Dr. Aurelia Frick (FBP): Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Justice, Minister of Cultural Affairs. -------------- BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON FM FRICK -------------- ¶3. (U) Liechtenstein's 34-year-old new Foreign Minister, Aurelia Frick, studied law at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. She began her professional career working for her family's company in the special purpose vehicles industry. She also has worked for a corporate law firm in Zurich, a London-based recruitment and consultancy firm, and the international advisory group Bjoern Johansson Associates. At the beginning of 2008, Frick started her own management consultancy firm in Liechtenstein and began lecturing at Liechtenstein's Institute of Applied Sciences. CARTER