The Club Suisse de Monaco hosted an economic evening at MoNa restaurant on 20th March, bringing together members of Monaco’s Swiss, German and Austrian communities for a discussion on the challenges facing European business and policy.
At the centre of the evening was Christian Freiherr von Stetten, a Swiss citizen and long-serving member of the German Bundestag who embodies a combination rare in German politics: an active entrepreneur who has held elected office for decades. He became self-employed in 1994 in Künzelsau while still a student and today runs a medium-sized business of around 200 employees — bringing direct commercial experience to his role as Chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Energy of the German Bundestag and Chairman of the SME Parliamentary Group of the CDU/CSU faction, which counts 166 of its 208 members.
His perspective, shaped by the daily realities of running a business alongside his legislative responsibilities, gave the evening’s discussion an unusual grounding. He addressed geopolitical tensions, energy policy and structural growth challenges not only as a policymaker but as someone who experiences the consequences of political decisions first-hand — a combination that, as the evening’s organisers noted, is far more common in Switzerland than in Germany.
The gathering also reflected something beyond economics. Representatives of the Club Allemand International de Monaco attended alongside Club Suisse members, and Austrian Honorary Consul Laila Schlereth was among the guests — a cross-border gathering that the organisers described as a practical expression of European cooperation and shared responsibility at a moment of growing continental uncertainty.
The Club Suisse de Monaco, one of the Principality’s most longstanding associations, has long positioned itself as a forum for exchange between politics, business and society across national boundaries.
See also:Â
A Club Suisse milestone: celebrating 75 years of Swiss innovation and impact in Monaco
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Photo: Arik Röschke (President Club Suisse de Monaco), Laila Schlereth (Honorary Consul of Austria in Monaco), Natalie Freifrau von Stetten (Entrepreneur), Christian Freiherr von Stetten (Entrepreneur and Member of the German Bundestag)