Federal Council (Switzerland)

The **Swiss Federal Council** (, , , ) is the group of seven people who are the federal government of Switzerland.  As Switzerland does not have one person as "President", the Federal Council is also the head of state.

## Members 
The whole council is responsible for leading the federal administration of Switzerland, but each Councillor runs one of the seven federal ministries. As of 2023, the members of the Federal Council are, in order of seniority:

## Origins and history of the Federal Council 
### Origins of the institution 
The Federal Council was set up by the 1848 Federal Constitution as the "supreme executive and directorial authority of the Confederation".

When the Constitution was written, constitutional democracy was still in its infancy, and the founding fathers of Switzerland had little in the way of examples. Switzerland has a long tradition of being governed by a council of representatives instead of one powerful ruler, so while they drew heavily on the U.S. Constitution for the organisation of the federal state as a whole, they opted for the council rather than the presidential system for the executive branch of government.) .

Today, only three other states, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and San Marino have more than one person act as head of state at a time. The collegial system of government is often used for government.  Many countries have a form of cabinet government with collective responsibility (that is, all ministers in the cabinet support the decision of the cabinet as a whole).

### Magic formula 
After the 1959 elections a *Zauberformel* or "magical formula" was invented.  The formula works out how many members of the Federal Council each political party has, and showed that the Federal Council is always a voluntary grand coalition.

Based on their strengths in the Federal Assembly, the seats were distributed as follows:
* Free Democratic Party (FDP): 2 members,
* Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP): 2 members,
* Social Democratic Party (SPS): 2 members, and
* Swiss People's Party (SVP): 1 member.

The FDP and CVP  have been getting less popular, and more people have supported the SVP and SPS.  After the 2003 elections, the SVP asked for a CVP Council seat for their leader Christoph Blocher and threatened to otherwise leave the government.  After the 2007 elections Blocher was replaced by another member of the CVP, so the strength of the parties is still:

* FDP : 2 members,
* CVP : 1 member,
* SPS : 2 members, and
* SVP : 2 member.

### Women on the council 
Women did not get the federal vote until 1971.  The first woman to be an official candidate was Lilian Uchtenhagen in 1983. After completing a full term of office, they are entitled to a perennial yearly pension of half that amount after leaving office.

While Councillors are forbidden by law to hold any other post during their term of office, it is not unusual for them to accept lucrative business engagements after leaving office, e.g., on the board of directors of major Swiss corporations.

### Immunity 
Federal Councillors, like Members of Parliament, enjoy absolute legal immunity for all statements made in their official capacity.

For crimes not relating to their official capacity, they can be prosecuted only with the permission of the Federal Council as a whole while in office. The prosecutor can appeal a refusal to grant permission to the Federal Assembly.

Prosecution for crimes and misdemeanors that do relate to the Councillors' official capacity requires the assent of the Federal Assembly. In such cases, Parliament can also suspend the Councillor in office (but not actually remove her or him).

According to statements to the media by a Federal Chancellory official, in none of the few cases of accusations against a Federal Councillor has the permission to prosecute ever been granted. Such cases usually involved statements considered offensive by members of the public. However, one unnamed Councillor involved in a traffic accident immediately prior to his date of resignation was reported to have voluntarily waived his immunity, and Councillor Elisabeth Kopp decided to resign upon facing an inquiry over allegations of secrecy violations.

## Assessment and calls for change 
Historically, the collegial government of Switzerland has been assessed both internationally and nationally as exceptionally competent and stable. The Federal Council as a whole (although not individual members) has consistently maintained public approval and confidence rates in excess of sixty percent, possibly also because under the Swiss system of direct democracy, voters can vent their displeasure with government decisions when deciding individual issues at the ballot box.

However, lately there has been a growing contention that the Federal Council is often too slow to respond to the needs of the moment, too resistant to change and too weak to lead the powerful federal bureaucracy. Various changes have been proposed to address these issues, including expanding the powers of the presidency, expanding the Federal Council itself or adding a second layer of ministers between the Council and the departments. None of these proposals has yet borne fruit, however.

## List of "firsts" in the Federal Council 
* 1848: The first seven members elected: Ulrich Ochsenbein, Jonas Furrer, Martin J. Munzinger, Henri Druey, Friedrich Frey-Herosé, Wilhelm Matthias Naeff and Stefano Franscini.
* 1854: First (of only four so far) sitting Federal Councillors not to be reelected, Ulrich Ochsenbein.
* 1891: First Councillor of the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland, Josef Zemp.
* 1893: First member whose father was a member of the Council: Eugène Ruffy, son of Victor Ruffy. In 2007, the 2nd is elected: Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, the daughter of Leon Schlumpf.
* 1911: First (and only) octogenarian in office, Adolf Deucher.
* 1913: First (and only) native Romansh speaker, Felix Calonder.
* 1917: First (and only) Councillor of the Liberal Party elected, Gustave Ador.
* 1930: First Councillor of the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (BGB/PAI; now the Swiss People's Party), Rudolf Minger.
* 1943: First Councillor of the Social Democratic Party, Ernst Nobs.
* 1983: First female candidate for the Council from a government party, Lilian Uchtenhagen (SP)
* 1984: First woman Councillor, Elisabeth Kopp (FDP).
* 1993: First Councillor of Jewish origin, Ruth Dreifuss (SP).
* 1995: First Councillor living in a domestic partnership, Moritz Leuenberger (SP) (with architect Gret Loewensberg, whom he later married).
* 1999: First woman President of the Confederation, Ruth Dreifuss (SP).

## Related pages
*List of members of the Swiss Federal Council (by date of election)
*Composition of the Swiss Federal Council
*:Category:Members of the Swiss Federal Council (alphabetical list)
*List of presidents of the Swiss Confederation

## Notes 
## References 
* 
* The Swiss Confederation: A brief guide 2006 , edited by the Swiss Federal Chancellery.
* Resultate der Wahlen des Bundesrats, der Bundeskanzler und des Generals (PDF), compiled by the services of the Swiss Parliament.
* Clive H. Church (2004). *The Politics and Government of Switzerland*. Palgrave Macmillan. .
* Altermatt, Urs (1993). *Conseil Fédéral: Dictionnaire biographique des cent premiers conseillers fédéraux*. Cabédita, Yens. 

## Other websites 
*Official Website