A

Project Report on

Power and Position Of Federal Executive of Switzerland

Submitted To: Mr. Ashutosh Aahire (Faculty Political science )
Roll no: 97
Semester-IV
(B.A.L.L.B. Hons.)
Submitted By: Naveen kumar Sihare

Date of Submission: 31/11/2018

Hidayatullah National Law University

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 Table of Contents
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………….3

Declaration…………………………………………………………………………………………..4

Objectives and Research Methodology……………………………………………………………..5

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………….6

Origins of the institution……………………………………………………………………………7

Composition and roles………………………………………………………………………………8

Chairman/President of the Federal Council…………………………………………………………9

Powers and Function………………………………………………………………………………..9

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….......12

References…………………………………………………………………………………………...13

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 Acknowledgements

First & foremost, I take this opportunity to thank Mr. Ashutosh Aahire , Faculty, English,
HNLU, for allotting me this challenging topic to work on. he has been very kind in
providing inputs for this work, by way of suggestions and by giving her very precious time
for some discussion and providing me resource of he vast knowledge of the subject which
helped me to look at the topic in its very broad sense also to look at some of the very
narrow concepts by expertise view. Therefore she proved to be a database in making this
project. Hence I would like to thank her.

I would also like to thank my dear colleagues and friends in the University, who have
helped me with ideas about this work and also a source for constant motivation and hence
they were a guiding force to me in making of this project. Last, but not the least I thank the
University Administration for equipping the University with such good library and IT lab.

My special thanks to library staff and IT staff for equipping me with the necessary books
and data from the website.

I would also like to thank the hostel staff for providing me a healthy and clean environment
that provided me a great concentration level.

Naveen Kumar Sihare

Roll No. – 97

Semester- IV (B.A.L.L.B. Hons.)

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 DECLARATION
I, Naveen sihare, hereby declare that, the project work entitled, ‘‘Power and Function of federal executive
of Switzerland’’ submitted to H.N.L.U., Raipur is record of an original work done by me under the
guidance of Mr. Ashutosh Aahire , Faculty Member, H.N.L.U., Raipur.

Naveen sihare
Section-B, Batch XIII
Roll No. 97
30/11/2018

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 Objectives

1. To discuss about the Federal Council

2. To discuss its function and power of federal executive .

Research Methodology
This Research Project is Descriptive in nature as it uses descriptive language for the explanation of
various topics and subjects discussed in this project.

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 INTRODUCTION
The Federal Council is the seven-member executive council that constitutes the federal government of
the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective executive head of government and state of
Switzerland.

While the entire council is responsible for leading the federal administration of Switzerland, each
Councillor heads one of the seven federal executive departments. The position of Federal President rotates
among the seven Councillors on a yearly basis, with the year's Vice President becoming next year's
President. Alain Berset is the incumbent president of the council since 1 January 2018.

The Swiss Federal Government is the custodian of the executive power of the federation. Article 174 of
the Swiss constitution describes it as "the highest governing and executive authority of the federation".It is
a plural or collegial council consisting of the seven equal members who exercise all the executive powers
as a collective body.

he Swiss Federal Council 2018 (left to right): Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, Federal Councillor
Simonetta Sommaruga, Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer (vice-president of the Federal Council), President
of the Confederation Alain Berset, Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard, Federal Councillor Johann N.
Schneider-Ammann, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Federal Chancellor Walter Thurnherr. © Swiss
Federal Chancellery

The national government of Switzerland has seven members, who are elected by the United Federal
Assembly. Each Federal Councillor is appointed to serve a one-year term as President of the
Confederation by the Federal Assembly in accordance with the principle of seniority. The Federal
President chairs the sessions of the executive and undertakes special ceremonial duties, particularly
abroad.

In keeping with the consociational model of democracy adopted by Switzerland, all members of the
Federal Council pledge to govern in a spirit of cooperation. As a collegial body, the Federal Council must
remain unanimous when presenting cabinet decisions to the public, even if it is contrary to their personal
view or to the official line taken by their party.

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Origins of the institution

The Federal Council was instituted by the 1848 Federal Constitution as the "supreme executive and
directorial authority of the Confederation".1

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. While they drew heavily on the U.S.
Constitution for the organisation of the federal state as a whole, they opted for the collegial rather than the
presidential system for the executive branch of government (directorial system). This accommodated the
long tradition of the rule of collective bodies in Switzerland. Under the Ancien Régime, the cantons of
the Old Swiss Confederacy had been governed by councils of pre-eminent citizens since time immemorial,
and the later Helvetic Republic (with its equivalent Directorate2) as well as the cantons that had given
themselves liberal constitutions since the 1830s had also had good experiences with that mode of
governance.3

Today, only three other states, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Andorra and San Marino, have collective rather
than unitary heads of state. However the collegial system of government has found widespread adoption in
modern democracies in the form of cabinet governmentwith collective responsibility.

1
German: Bundesrat, French: Conseil fédéral, Italian: Consiglio federale, Romansh: Cussegl federal.
2
See: Directorate in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
3
Departments: Development on the Federal Level in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland. Collegial
System in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

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Composition and roles
The supreme executive powers of the Swiss confederation are vested in the Federal Council consisting of
seven members which is neither increased nor decreased. The members are elected for four years by
Federal Assembly in joint session. It is not necessary according to the constitution that the members are
elected from the Federal Assembly. But by convention the members are elected from amongst the member
of the Federal Assembly. They resign their membership of the legislature on getting into the council.
Article 175 (3) of the constitution specifies that no two councillors can be from the same canton. By a
convention no two person related by blood or marriage can become its members at the same time.

At the present time, the Federal Council has two representatives from the Liberal Party (FDP), two
representatives from the Swiss Social Democratic Party (SP), two representatives from the Swiss People’s
Party (SVP), and one representative from the Swiss Christian Democratic Party (CVP). Each member of
the Federal Council also heads a federal department.

The Federal Council generally meets once a week. Over the year, it deals with between 2,000 and 2,500
items of business, which have been prepared by the federal departments or by the Federal
Chancellery. The Federal Chancellor, who acts as chief-of-staff to the Federal Council, attends all cabinet
meetings, but in a purely advisory capacity.

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Presidency

Each year, one of the seven Councillors is elected by the United Federal Assembly as President of the
Confederation.4 The Federal Assembly also elects a Vice President. By convention, the positions of
President and Vice President rotate annually, each Councillor thus becoming Vice President and then
President every seven years while in office.

According to the Swiss order of precedence, the President of the Confederation is the highest-ranking
Swiss official. He/She presides over Council meetings and carries out certain representative functions that,
in other countries, are the business of a head of state.5 In urgent situations where a Council decision
cannot be made in time, he is empowered to act on behalf of the whole Council. Apart from that, though,
he is a primus inter pares, having no power above and beyond the other six Councillors.

The President is not the Swiss head of state; this function is carried out by the Council in corpore, that is,
in its entirety. However, it has recently become usual that the President acts and is recognized as head of
state while conducting official visits abroad, as the Council (also by convention) does not leave the
country in corpore. More often, though, official visits abroad are carried out by the Councillor who is head
of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Visiting heads of state are received by the Federal
Council in corpore.

Council meetings

The Federal Council operates mainly through weekly meetings, which are held each Wednesday at
the Federal Palace in Bern.,[11] the seat of the Swiss federal government.

Apart from the seven Councillors, the following officials also attend the meetings:

 Federal Chancellor Walter Thurnherr. As government chief of staff and head of the Federal
Chancellery, he participates in the discussion but has no vote in the Council's
decisions.[11] Nonetheless, his influential position is often referred to as that of an "eighth Federal
Councillor".
 the Vice-Chancellor: André Simonazzi. Simonazzi is the spokesman of the Federal Council and
conducts the weekly press briefing after the meeting.

4
Information services of the Federal Chancellery (2008). The Swiss Confederation a brief guide 2008. p. 42.
5
Information services of the Federal Chancellery (2008). The Swiss Confederation a brief guide 2008. p. 43.

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 the Vice-Chancellor: Jörg De Bernardi who is in charge of the Federal Council sector within the Swiss
Federal Chancellery.

After the meetings, the Councillors take lunch together. The Council also meets regularly in conclave to
discuss important topics at length, and annually conducts what is colloquially referred to as its "field trip",
a day trip to some attractions in the President's home canton. In that and other respects, the Council
operates not unlike a board of directors of a major corporation.

Decisions and responsibilities

Each Federal Councillor heads a government department, much like the ministers in the governments of
other countries.[12]Colloquially and by the press, they are often referred to as ministers, e.g. the head of
the DDPS as "minister of defence", even though no such post officially exists. However, as Council
members, they are not only responsible for their own department, but also for the business of their
colleagues' departments as well, and for the conduct of the government and the federal administration as a
whole.

Decisions to be taken by the Council are always prepared by the responsible department. For example, a
change in the salaries of federal employees would be proposed to the council by the head of the Federal
Department of Finance, to whose department the Federal Office of Personnel belongs. Before a vote is
taken at a Council meeting, though, all proposals are circulated in writing to the heads of departments,
who commission the senior career officials of their department – the heads of the Federal Offices – to
prepare a written response to offer criticism and suggestions. This is called the co-report
procedure (Mitberichtsverfahren/procédure de co-rapport), designed to build a wide consensus ahead of a
Council meeting.

To prepare for important decisions, an additional public consultation is sometimes conducted, to which the
cantons, the political parties and major interest groups are invited, and in which all members of the public
can participate. If a change in a federal statute is to be proposed to the Federal Assembly, this step is
mandated by law. In such cases, the consultation procedure also serves to identify political concerns that
could later be the focus of a popular referendum to stop passage of the bill at issue.

The decisions themselves are formally taken by voice vote by a majority of the Councillors present at a
meeting. However, the great majority of decisions are arrived at by consensus; even though lately there is
said to be a trend towards more contentious discussions and close votes.[by whom?]

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Secrecy

The meetings of the Federal Council and the result of the votes taken are not open to the public, and the
records remain sealed for 50 years. This has lately been the subject of some criticism. In particular, the
parties at the ends of the political spectrum argue that this secrecy is contrary to the principle
of transparency. However, the Council has always maintained that secrecy is necessary to arrive at
consensus and to preserve the collegiality and political independence of the individual Councillors.

Constitutional conventions

Due to the Federal Council's unique nature as a voluntary grand coalition of political opponents, its
operation is subject to numerous constitutional conventions. Most notable is the principle of collegiality;
that is, the Councillors are not supposed to publicly criticise one another, even though they are often
political opponents. In effect, they are expected to publicly support all decisions of the Council, even
against their own personal opinion or that of their political party. In the eye of many observers, this
convention has become rather strained after the 2003 elections (see below).

Election mode

The members of the Federal Council are elected for a term of four years by both chambers of the Federal
Assembly sitting together as the United Federal Assembly. Each Councillor is elected individually
by secret ballot by an absolute majority of votes. Every adult Swiss citizen is eligible, but in practice, only
Members of Parliament or more rarely, members of Cantonal governments are nominated by the political
parties and receive a substantial number of votes. The voting is conducted in several rounds, under a form
of exhaustive ballot: in the first two rounds, anyone can enter their name; but in subsequent rounds, the
person receiving the fewest votes is removed from the race until one candidate gains an absolute majority.

Usually, the party which has a seat to fill presents two candidates with mainstream viewpoints to the
United Federal Assembly, which then chooses one. This was not so, however, during the 2003 election,
which was the most controversial in recent memory (see also above).

Once elected, Councillors remain members of their political parties, but hold no leading office with them.
In fact, they usually maintain a certain political distance from the party leadership, because under the rules
of collegiality, they will often have to publicly promote a Council decision which does not match the
political conviction of their party (or of themselves).

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Resignation

Once elected for a four-year-term, Federal Councillors can neither be voted out of office by a motion of no
confidence nor can they be impeached. Re-election is possible for an indefinite number of terms, and it
has historically been extremely rare for Parliament not to re-elect a sitting Councillor. This has only
happened four times – to Ulrich Ochsenbein in 1854, to Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel in 1872, to Ruth
Metzler-Arnold in 2003 and to Christoph Blocher in 2007.[14] In practice, therefore, Councillors serve until
they decide to resign and retire to private life, usually after three to five terms of office.

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Chairman/President of the Federal Council:
One of the seven councillor is elected by the Federal Assembly as the Chairman/President of the Federal
Council for the period of one year only. The chairman of the council, in fact, rotates amongst them. The
chairman is designated as the President of the Swiss federation but does not enjoy any special powers.He
presides over the meeting of the council and does exercise a casting vote in case of tie. As the President of
Switzerland he/she performs certain ceremonial functions. He represent the country on official occasion
and receives ambassadors from other countries. Though the office of the President does not hold any
special privileges yet this office command great respects.

Powers and Function: The federal council or govt. has executive authority over all subjects which
have been assigned by the constitution to the federation. Article 178-187 give a detailed account of the
powers of the federal govt. We can discuss these powers under four heads legislative, executive, financial
and judicial

1. Legislative: Its legislative power are as follows;

a) They prepare and initiate measures either on their own accord or at the request of the federal Parliament
(Assembly) and then pilot them through the Houses.

b) Though they do not have any vote in the houses yet they participate in the proceedings of the houses
and reply to the question.

c) The federal Govt (Council) had the responsibility to the draft bills on the basis of the demands which
come it through the 'postulates' and 'motion' adopted by the Federal Parliament.

d) The Federal Councillors play a decisive role int he legislative commissions constituted by the federal
parliament for discussing and reporting on measures for law-making.

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2. Executive: The constitution vests the supreme executive powers in the federal govt. As such, it
exercise the following powers;

a) It is responsible for the enforcement of laws and ordinance passed by the federal legislature.

b) To conduct the foreign affairs of Switzerland and to ensure the maintenance of independence and
neutrality of the country.

c) It maintains internal peace, law and order.

d) It appoints all officers of the federation except those who are appointed by the Federal Parliament
(Assembly) in a joint session.

e) It carries on the administration of federal affairs in conformity with the laws of federation.

f) It executes the decisions of the federal Court and arbitrates the awards on disputes between the cantons.

g) It protects the observance of cantonal constitution.

h)It exercise supervisory control over the cantonal government for securing the enforcement of federal
law.

i) It examine the treaties which the cantons enter into with each other or with the foreign countries and
approves them if it deems fit.

j) It submit regularly a report on its works int he sphere of domestics and foreign affairs to the federal
parliament at each session and makes special report on the occasions if required to do so.

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3. Financial: The federal council administers federal finance as well. As such'

a) It prepares the annual budget and presents it ti the federal parliament.

b) It has to see that the budget is passed by the parliament (Assembly).

c) It collects the revenues and supervises the expenditures appropriated by the legislatures.

d) It manages, the national undertakings such as railways.

4. Judicial: The federal govt. is equipped with powers of the judicial nature as well, though some of its
powers were drastically curtailed in 1914. Nevertheless, it still has the power to hear appeals of private
individuals against the decisions cantonal governments in cases relating to discrimination of elementary
school, differences arising out of treaties to trade, military, taxation, customs, cantonal election etc.

Though, theoretically and constitutionally the Federal Govt. is subservient to the Federal
Parliament. However, in reality the Federal Govt. enjoys the dominant position

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 Conclusion

The national government of Switzerland has seven members, who are elected by the United Federal
Assembly. Each Federal Councillor is appointed to serve a one-year term as President of the
Confederation by the Federal Assembly in accordance with the principle of seniority. The Federal
President chairs the sessions of the executive and undertakes special ceremonial duties, particularly
abroad.

In keeping with the consociational model of democracy adopted by Switzerland, all members of the
Federal Council pledge to govern in a spirit of cooperation. As a collegial body, the Federal Council must
remain unanimous when presenting cabinet decisions to the public, even if it is contrary to their personal
view or to the official line taken by their party.

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 Bibliography
 Federal Council in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
 The Swiss Confederation: A brief guide 2006–2009, 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.
ISBN 0-333-69277-2.
 Altermatt, Urs (1993). Conseil Fédéral: Dictionnaire biographique des cent premiers conseillers
fédéraux. Cabédita, Yens. ISBN 2-88295-104-3

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