Summary
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 was then a member of the splinter Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD) until 2021, when that party merged into The Centre. Widmer-Schlumpf was the head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police from 2008 to 2010, when she became head of the Federal Department of Finance.[2] She served as President of the Swiss Confederation in 2012.
Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of Switzerland | |
| In office 1 January 2012 – 31 December 2012 | |
| Vice President | Ueli Maurer |
| Preceded by | Micheline Calmy-Rey |
| Succeeded by | Ueli Maurer |
| Vice President of Switzerland | |
| In office 1 January 2011 – 31 December 2011 | |
| President | Micheline Calmy-Rey |
| Preceded by | Micheline Calmy-Rey |
| Succeeded by | Ueli Maurer |
| Head of the Department of Finance | |
| In office 1 November 2010 – 31 December 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Hans-Rudolf Merz |
| Succeeded by | Ueli Maurer |
| Head of the Department of Justice and Police | |
| In office 1 January 2008 – 31 October 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Christoph Blocher |
| Succeeded by | Simonetta Sommaruga |
| Member of the Swiss Federal Council | |
| In office 1 January 2008 – 31 December 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Christoph Blocher |
| Succeeded by | Guy Parmelin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 March 1956 Felsberg, Switzerland |
| Political party | Swiss People's Party (before 2008) Conservative Democratic Party (2008–2021) The Centre (2021–present) |
| Spouse | Christoph Widmer[1] |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | University of Zürich |
Biography edit
Family, education and early career edit
Widmer-Schlumpf is married and has three children. She is the daughter of Federal Councillor Leon Schlumpf.[3] She is the second Federal Councillor whose father had held the same office after Eugène Ruffy, 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, Simonetta Sommaruga and former Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey.[4]
Widmer-Schlumpf received her degree in law at the University of Zürich 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 in 1985, presiding from 1991 to 1997. As a member of the Swiss People's Party, 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.
Election to the Swiss Federal Council edit
Widmer-Schlumpf was named as an alternative candidate to Federal Councillor Christoph Blocher by the Christian Democrat, Social Democrat and Green factions in the 2007 Swiss Federal Council election. 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 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 Federal Department of Justice and Police.
Foundation of the Conservative Democratic Party edit
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.[5] 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 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 as the head of the Federal Department of Finance.[6] Widmer-Schlumpf was elected Vice President of the Confederation for 2011, alongside President Micheline Calmy-Rey. On 14 December 2011 she was elected President of the Confederation for 2012—the fourth woman to hold the post after Ruth Dreifuss in 1999, Calmy-Rey in 2007 and 2011, and Doris Leuthard 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.[7][8][9] She was succeeded by Guy Parmelin.
Works edit
- Voraussetzungen der Konzession bei Radio und Fernsehen. doctorate thesis. Helbing und Lichtenhahn, Basel 1990, ISBN 3-7190-1157-7.
References edit
- ^ "Gescheiterte BDP Aufloesung in Chut - Vortand wechselt zur FDP". swissinfo.ch.
- ^ EFD, Eidgenössisches Finanzdepartement. "Frühere Departmentsvorsteher/innen". www.efd.admin.ch. Archived from the original on 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
- ^ "Le Conseil fédéral dans le sang: de Leon à Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf". Le Temps. 28 October 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
- ^ "Patronat" (in German). 2020.ch. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
- ^ BBC News. Far-right leaves Swiss government, 13 December 2007.
- ^ "Leuthard au DETEC, Widmer-Schlumpf aux finances". TSR Télévision Suisse Romande. SRG SSR. 27 September 2010. Archived from the original on 30 September 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
- ^ Jaberg, Samuel; Stephens, Thomas (28 October 2015). "Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf to Stand Down". Swissinfo. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ^ Geiser, Urs (19 October 2015). "Parliament Shifts to the Right". Swissinfo. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ^ "Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf tritt zurück; Die kompetente Finanzministerin; Widmer-Schlumpf und die Journalisten" (in German). 10vor10. 2015-10-28. Retrieved 2015-10-28.
External links edit
Media related to Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf at Wikimedia Commons
- Profile of Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf with election results on the website of the Swiss Federal Council.
- Official biography
- homepage at the conference of cantonal finance directors
- Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf: CV at the Wayback Machine (archived December 14, 2007).
- "Swiss MPs reject far-right leader", BBC News, 12 December 2007.
- Widmer-Schlumpf accepts cabinet post, swissinfo 13 December 2007.
- Swiss consensus government falls as rightists quit, Reuters, 13 December 2007.