Summer interview 2012 – Guy Mettan, Director of the Geneva Press Club (CSP)

July 2012

What's going on this summer at the CSP?

We will have a busy summer preparing for the 15th anniversary of the Geneva Press Club and the 15th Festival of Communication, which is taking place on Thursday, August 30. As the Festival coincides with the 10th anniversary of the accession of Switzerland to the UN, we invited the former French Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, who delivered the welcome speech from the UN rostrum in 2002 , to speak on "Europe, UN, What governance" on August 30th at 5 p.m. The meeting has been organized in collaboration with the Fondation pour Genève and the Club Diplomatique.

We are also finalizing plans for the 7th Francophone Festival of Philosophy to be held on 7-8 September in Saint-Maurice on the theme "La catastrophe, une chance?" with twenty speakers.

And there are always one or two unforeseen emergency press conferences to be organized.

Holiday plans?

Ten days in the Périgord Vert with friends before returning to Geneva to deliver the 1st of August speech in Presinge.

What do you take the opportunity to do in Geneva during the summer?

Housekeeping! It's is an opportunity to get all the files in order, to throw away useless papers, and to have a good clean out!

Do you have a place you really love, in Geneva or in the surrounding area?

Strolling along the Versoix, enjoying the cool river air, when the sun is setting and with no urgent meetings looming.

How about a summer book recommendation for our readers?

Clandestin, by Philip Caputo, is set in Arizona and is the story of a city-dweller from Boston who becomes embroiled in the violence endemic in human relationships on the Mexican border. And I have just re-read the wonderful little Histoire de Genève by Louis Binz.