Unlike local staff, diplomats rarely stay in the same place for more than a couple of years in order to prevent them from becoming part of their host country’s society and loosing their outsider’s view.
This is why the team working at the Permanent Representation of Switzerland to the Council of Europe changes every now and then. At present, Switzerland is represent in Strassburg by the following diplomats:
Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl
Pascale Baeriswyl has been Switzerland’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe since the summer of 2026. The lawyer’s diplomatic career has taken her to Hanoi, Brussels and Bern. In New York, she served as an observer to the Security Council for the Swiss Mission to the UN. In 2016, she became the first woman to be appointed State Secretary at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). Between April 2017 and January 2018, she coordinated Switzerland’s negotiations with the European Union. Until her move to Strasbourg, she represented Switzerland as Ambassador to the UN in New York, where she chaired the Security Council in May 2023 and October 2024.
Urs Beer
Urs Beer’s work as a diplomat has so far taken him to Cairo, Ankara, Strasbourg and Tbilisi. The historian has been associated with the Council of Europe for quite some time, as he worked at the Permanent Representation of Switzerland to the Council of Europe from 2012-17. Today, he is responsible for political and cultural dossiers as well as all matters relating to the Council of Europe’s budget and work programme. As the Ambassador’s deputy, he also heads the Permanent Representation as Chargé d’Affaires in the Ambassador’s absence.
Sophie Heegaard Schroeter
Sophie Heegaard Schroeter holds a doctorate in law and worked in the Directorate for International Law of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, where she was responsible for human rights and international humanitarian law. In 2022, she was posted to Strassburg where she is responsible for all legal matters the Council of Europe deals with, including the quarterly meetings of the Committee of Ministers where the Deputies oversee the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
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Photos: Urs Beer © Europe’s Human Rights Watchdog
