Swiss Federal Council (cabinet), 2010
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s cabinet, the seven-member Swiss Federal Council, which governs as a body of equals, has published its official photo for 2010. Left to right: Didier Burkhalter, the chancellor for the Swiss Confederation Corina Casanova, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, Ueli Maurer, Micheline Calmy-Rey, Hans-Rudolf Merz, Swiss President Doris Leuthard, Vice-president Moritz Leuenberger. The presidency is a one-year rotating position, while the chancellor’s job is to oversee the smooth functioning of the administrative side of the government.
Keeping the door open to dialogue
Update 23 December 07:55 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s Muslim community and the Swiss minister in charge of the Federal Department of Justice and Police met Monday 21 December to discuss the implications of the recent vote to ban new minarets. Federal councilor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told the group that Bern is determined to improve relations with the Muslim community. A first meeting took place in September, before the vote.
The government and three representative Muslim organizations have agreed to meet again, this time to analyze the situation and to discuss concrete measures.
Federal Councilor Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s Justice and Police minister Thursday called on voters to reject the anti-minaret proposal which will be put to them in a referendum 29 November, saying that it is unconstitutional and runs counter to Swiss values. Eveline Widmer Schlumpf told a press conference that the proposal, from the right-wing UDC of which she was once a member, does not respect Switzerland’s freedom of religious expression. She argues that this means not only that people are free to hold religious beliefs, but also to express them openly and publicly in appropriate places of worship.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss federal council has agreed to hold back on the destruction of documents related to the St. Gallen family Tinner, allegedly implicated in an international nuclear proliferation network. In an agreement with the Control Commission Delegation (CD), the Swiss parliament’s investigative branch for national security issues, Justice minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, agreed to allow certain of the documents to be made available to the judicial investigation and for the Tinner family defense attorneys.
