Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (born 16 March 1956) is a Swiss politician and lawyer who served as a

Member of the Swiss Federal Council Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

from 2008 to 2015. A member of the

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (german: Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP; rm, Partida populara Svizra, PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (french: Union démocratique du centre, UDC; it, Unione Democratica di Centro, UDC), is a nati ...

(SVP/UDC) until 2008, she has since then been a member of the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD). Widmer-Schlumpf was the head of the

Federal Department of Justice and Police The Federal Department of Justice and Police (german: Eidgenössisches Justiz- und Polizeidepartement, french: Département fédéral de justice et police, it, Dipartimento federale di giustizia e polizia, rm, ) is one of the seven departme ...

from 2008 to 2010, when she became head of the

Federal Department of Finance The Federal Department of Finance (FDF, german: Eidgenössisches Finanzdepartement, links=no, french: Département fédéral des finances, links=no, it, Dipartimento federale delle finanze, links=no, rm, ) is one of the seven departments of ...

. She served as

President of the Swiss Confederation The president of the Swiss Confederation, also known as the president of the Confederation or colloquially as the president of Switzerland, is the head of Switzerland's seven-member Federal Council (Switzerland), Federal Council, the country's ...

in 2012.

Biography

Family, education and early career

Widmer-Schlumpf is married and has three children. She is the daughter of Federal Councillor

Leon Schlumpf Leon Schlumpf (3 February 1925 – 7 July 2012) was a Swiss politician and a former member of the Swiss Federal Council (1979–1987). Schlumpf was born in Felsberg. He was elected to the Federal Council on 5 December 1979 as a member of the Sw ...

. She is the second Federal Councillor whose father had held the same office after

Eugène Ruffy Eugène Ruffy (2 August 1854, in Lutry – 25 October 1919) was a Swiss politician. He was elected to the Swiss Federal Council on 14 December 1893 and resigned on 31 October 1899. He was affiliated with the Free Democratic Party of Switzerlan ...

, as well as the sixth woman to be elected to the Swiss Federal Council. Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf is also patron of the project ''SAFFA 2020'', alongside the Federal Councillors

Doris Leuthard Doris Leuthard (born 10 April 1963) is a Swiss politician and lawyer who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2006 to 2018. A member of the Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP/PDC), she was elected as President of the Swiss ...

Simonetta Sommaruga Simonetta Myriam Sommaruga (born 14 May 1960) is a Swiss politician who has served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council since 2010. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS), she was President of the Swiss Confederation in 2015 and 202 ...

and former Federal Councillor

Micheline Calmy-Rey Micheline Anne-Marie Calmy-Rey (born 8 July 1945) is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS), she was the head of the Federal Department of Foreign ...

. Widmer-Schlumpf received her degree in law at the

University of Zürich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

in 1981 and her LLD in 1990. She worked as a lawyer from 1987 to 1998. She was elected to the district court of

Trin Trin is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Imboden Region in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Graubünden. Crestasee is located in Trin. History Trin is first mentioned in the 12th Century as ''Turunnio' ...

in 1985, presiding from 1991 to 1997. As a member of the

, she was elected to the Grand Council of Grisons from 1994 to 1998; that year she was elected to the cantonal government as the first woman, acting as president in 2001 and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Election to the Swiss Federal Council

Dmitry Medvedev in Switzerland 21 September 2009-9

Widmer-Schlumpf was named as an alternative candidate to Federal Councillor

Christoph Blocher Christoph Wolfram Blocher (; born 11 October 1940) is a Swiss industrialist and politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2004 to 2007. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), he headed the Federal Department of ...

by the

Christian Democrat Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

and

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

factions in the

2007 Swiss Federal Council election 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

. In the first round, she received 116 votes, compared to 111 votes for Blocher. In the second round, she was elected to be the 110th

Federal Councillor The Federal Council (german: Bundesrat; french: Conseil fédéral; it, Consiglio federale; rm, Cussegl federal) is the executive body of the federal government of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state ...

with 125 votes, 115 votes going to Blocher and 6 spurious, empty or invalid. She accepted her election on 13 December 2007. She assumed Blocher's old portfolio as head of the

Foundation of the Conservative Democratic Party

After her election, Widmer-Schlumpf was intensely opposed by the national leadership of the Swiss People's Party, who denounced her as a traitor to her party for accepting an election that she won without the support of the party. Immediately after her election, she was excluded from the SVP/UDC party group's meetings, as was her colleague

Samuel Schmid Samuel Schmid (born 8 January 1947) is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2000 to 2008. He was the head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (notably acting as a defense minis ...

. In another unprecedented development in Swiss politics, on 2 April 2008 the national party leadership called upon Widmer-Schlumpf to resign from the Federal Council at once and to leave the party. When Widmer-Schlumpf refused to do so, the SVP/UDC demanded that its Grisons section expel her. Since Swiss parties are legally federations of cantonal parties, the SVP/UDC could not directly expel her. The Grisons branch stood by Widmer-Schlumpf, prompting its expulsion from the national party on 1 June. In response, the former SVP Grisons section formed the

Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland The Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland (german: Bürgerlich-Demokratische Partei Schweiz, BDP; french: Parti bourgeois démocratique suisse, PBD; it, Partito Borghese Democratico Svizzero, PBD; rm, , PBD; ''Swiss Democratic Bourgeois ...

. The SVP's Bern section, of which Schmid is a member, also joined the new party. Following a reshuffle of portfolios after the by-election of two new Federal Councillors in 2010, Widmer-Schlumpf replaced outgoing

Hans-Rudolf Merz Hans-Rudolf Merz (born 10 November 1942) is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2004 to 2010. A member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP/PRD) until the foundation of FDP.The Liberals in 2009, he headed the ...

as the head of the

. Widmer-Schlumpf was elected Vice President of the Confederation for 2011, alongside President

. On 14 December 2011 she was elected

President of the Confederation The president of the Swiss Confederation, also known as the president of the Confederation or colloquially as the president of Switzerland, is the head of Switzerland's seven-member Federal Council, the country's executive branch. Elected by ...

for 2012—the fourth woman to hold the post after

Ruth Dreifuss Ruth Dreifuss (born 9 January 1940 in St. Gallen) is a Swiss politician affiliated with the Social Democratic Party. She was a member of the Swiss Federal Council from 1993 to 2002, representing the Canton of Geneva. She was elected to the Swis ...

in 1999, Calmy-Rey in 2007 and 2011 and

in 2010, as well as the third woman in a row. Due to a large amount of turnover on the Federal Council, she was the longest-serving member to have not yet served as its president. After the Swiss People's Party won a record vote of over 29% in the 2015 general election, Widmer-Schlumpf announced she would not run for reelection to the Federal Council on 28 October 2015. She was succeeded by

Guy Parmelin Guy Bernard Parmelin (; born 9 November 1959) is a Swiss politician, who served as president of Switzerland in 2021, having previously served as vice president of Switzerland in 2020. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), he has been ...

Works

* ''Voraussetzungen der Konzession bei Radio und Fernsehen.'' doctorate thesis. Helbing und Lichtenhahn, Basel 1990, .

Biography

Family, education and early career

Election to the Swiss Federal Council

Foundation of the Conservative Democratic Party

Works

References

External links