Samuel Schmid 

Samuel Schmid
Samuel Schmid

Incumbent
Assumed office 
01 January 2001
Preceded by Adolf Ogi

In office
01 January 2005 – 31 December 2005
Vice President Moritz Leuenberger
Preceded by Joseph Deiss
Succeeded by Moritz Leuenberger

Incumbent
Assumed office 
01 January 2001
Preceded by Adolf Ogi

Born 8 January 1947 (1947-01-08) (age 61)
Political party Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland; previously SVP

Samuel Schmid (born January 8, 1947) has been a member of the Swiss Federal Council since 2000. He is the head Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (notably acting as a defense minister for Switzerland).

He was elected to the Federal Council on December 6, 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. During his time in office he has held the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports. 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 former Federal Councilor 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).

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.1

References


Footnotes

  1. ^ "Schmid announces resignation", Swissinfo (12 November 2008). Retrieved on 12 November 2008. 

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Adolf Ogi
Member of the Swiss Federal Council
2001–2008
Succeeded by
(Incumbent)
Preceded by
Joseph Deiss
President of Switzerland
2005
Succeeded by
Moritz Leuenberger
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