Federal Council of Switzerland

The current members of the Swiss Federal Council (2003)

The Federal Council of Switzerland (in German: Bundesrat, in French: Conseil fédéral, in Italian: Consiglio federale is the a seven-member executive council which collectively assumes the office of head of state equivalent to that of a president or of a monarch, and the government of Switzerland.

Each of the seven members is heads a department:

• Federal Department of Foreign Affairs[?] (Micheline Calmy-Rey)
• Federal Department of Home Affairs[?] (Pascal Couchepin)
• Federal Department of Justice and Police[?] (Ruth Metzler-Arnold)
• Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports[?] (Samuel Schmid)
• Federal Department of Finance[?] (Kaspar Villiger)
• Federal Department of Economic Affairs[?] (Joseph Deiss)
• Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications[?] (Moritz Leuenberger)

One of the seven is elected to be president of the Federal Council (President of the Swiss Confederation) for a term of one year: he or she has no power above and beyond the other six, but rather is responsible for representing the country externally.

See also: List of members of the Swiss Federal Council (1848-present)

External link

• Swiss Government (http://www.admin.ch/) - Official site