Samuel Schmid (born 8 January 1947) is a Swiss politician 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 ...

from 2000 to 2008. He was the head of the

Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports The Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS, german: Eidgenössisches Departement für Verteidigung, Bevölkerungsschutz und Sport, french: Département fédéral de la défense, de la protection de la population et des ...

(notably acting as a

defense minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in s ...

for Switzerland). Schmid was born in

Rüti bei Büren Rüti bei Büren is a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is also a reformed church parish. History Rüti bei Büren is first mentioned in 1185 as ''in litore Ruthi''. In 1257 it was ...

Canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

. He was elected to the Federal Council on 6 December 2000. He was a member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), and is now a member of 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 ...

. During his time in office he has held the

. In 2004, he was the vice- President of the Confederation and President in 2005. Schmid was a member of the SVP's centrist/agrarian wing. He was put under pressure by the party's nationalist wing, led by National Councillor Christoph Blocher, for taking a moderate stance on certain issues. After the SVP became the largest party in the Federal Assembly in the 2003 federal elections, the SVP threatened to remove Schmid from the Council if it didn't get an additional seat (which eventually went to Blocher in that year). After Blocher was defeated for reelection to the Federal Council in favour of another SVP moderate,

Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (born 16 March 1956) is a Swiss politician and lawyer who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2008 to 2015. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) until 2008, she has since then been a member of the ...

, the SVP caucus voted to exclude Schmid and Widmer-Schlumpf from the party group. Some called for them to be thrown out of the party altogether. However, Swiss parties are legally federations of cantonal parties. For Schmid to have been expelled, the SVP's Bern section would have had to terminate his membership, and it refused to do so. In 2008, Schmid joined the newly formed Conservative Democratic Party, along with almost all of the SVP's Bern section. On 12 November 2008, Schmid resigned from the Federal Council effective 1 January 2009. The resignation followed a months-long period of intense political pressure by the Swiss People's Party owing to scandals and accidents in the Swiss military, as well as bouts of ill health. Samuel Schmid was succeeded by Ueli Maurer of the Swiss People's Party.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmid, Samuel Members of the Federal Council (Switzerland) 1947 births Living people Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland politicians Swiss People's Party politicians People from Seeland District Swiss Protestants 21st-century Swiss politicians Doping in Russia University of Bern alumni