Taking up the reins as Swiss president: being Swiss president must feel like Santa Claus. A middle-aged white man who comes along just once a year, usually arriving unnoticed by the general public.
| Auteur | Ledsom, Mark |
| Fonction | Politics |
It's often said that even the Swiss themselves struggle when asked to name former, and sometimes even current, presidents. Nevertheless, the elevation of defence department chief Samuel Schmid to this year's presidency may illicit even more shrugs than usual among the general public.
Samuel Schmid
A non-flamboyant politician, who lists dog-walking and computer flight simulators among his hobbies, Schmid has climbed to the top of the political pole via an unspectacularly normal route. The 57-year-old lawyer (he turns 58 on January 8) showed an early interest in government administration when he took up his first job with the federal finance administration.
After becoming a member of his town council in 1972, he enjoyed his first stint as a president (of the town of Ruti) in 1974--at the age of just 27. Eight years later he made the progression to cantonal politics, spending 11 years in Bern's local parliament where he helped through a new cantonal constitution, before stepping up to the national parliament in 1994 and into the cabinet in 2001.
Perhaps the most interesting political aspect of Schmid's career to date is the fact that he made it into the cabinet largely in spite of his own political party, the right wing Swiss People's Party.
His Political Affiliation
AS a member of the party's more moderate Bern faction, Schmid was not even among the two official candidates put forward for the 2001 cabinet vote--he instead emerged as a compromise candidate with wider approval from the other parliamentary parties.
His subsequent backing, at least in public, of government policy over the views of his own party led some of his party colleagues to brand him their half-minister or the People's Party's 'illegitimate son' and Schmid's efforts to support the successful election of party figurehead Christoph Blocher into the cabinet appears to have quietened such comments for now.
Further tussles with the party are likely in 2005 though--particularly over the Schengen/Dublin accords, which form part of the latest bilateral treaties between Switzerland and the EU, and allow for greater co-operation on cross-border crime and asylum. Calling the accords a 'backdoor' route towards full EU membership, the People's Party is preparing to challenge the accords in a public vote.
Swiss News caught up with Switzerland's new president and asked him for his views on the new job, the year ahead, the country's relationship with Europe and his own relationship with...
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