The
Federal Chancellery
of
Switzerland
is a department-level agency of the
federal administration of Switzerland
. It is the staff organisation of the federal government, the
Federal Council
. Since 2024, it has been headed by
Federal Chancellor
Viktor Rossi
of the
Green Liberal Party of Switzerland
.
History
[
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]
The Federal Chancellery was established by the 1803
Act of Mediation
, before that, the
recess notes
were held by the cantonal chancellery of the canton that was hosting the
tagsatzung
. Until the establishment of the
federal state
in 1848, the chancellery was one of the few permanent offices of the
Swiss Confederation
.
During the first years, the Federal Chancellor was tasked with managing the protocol and the agenda of the tagsatzung, writing and printing the recess notes, the correspondence with the cantons and foreign nations, and maintaining the Federal archives.
After 1848, the Chancellery was attached to the
Federal Department of Home Affairs
until 1895, then to the
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
until 1967, when it became an independent body.
[2]
Since 2007, the Federal Language Law (Sprachengesetz, Loi sur les langues, Legge sulle lingue, Lescha da linguas) requires "that official language use must be adequate, clear and intelligible as well as non-sexist." However, in practice, non-sexist language has been required in the German section of the Federal Chancellery's official texts since around 1998, whilst the French and Italian sections continue with a more traditional use of language made up of masculine terms.
[3]
Organization
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The Chancellery is divided into three distinct sectors. The Chancellor is the formal head of the Federal Chancellor Sector, comprising the planning & strategy section, the Internal Services section, the political rights section, the federal crisis management training unit of the Federal Administration, and the Records and Process Management section.
Two sectors are headed by the Vice-Chancellors: the Federal Council sector manages the agenda of the Federal Council's meeting. This sector comprises the Section for Federal Council Affairs, the Legal Section, the Official Publications Centre and the Central Language Services. The Information & Communications Sector is led by Vice-Chancellor
Andre Simonazzi
, this role also has expanded to become the official spokesman for the Federal Council in 2000. This sector includes the e-Government Section, the Communication Support Section and the Political Forum of the Confederation.
[4]
For administrative purposes, the
Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner
is affiliated to the Chancellery. The
Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner
is responsible for the supervision of federal authorities and private bodies with respect to
data protection
and
freedom of information legislation
.
Roles
[
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]
Federal Chancellor
[
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]
The Federal Chancellor is elected by Parliament for a term of four years, usually at the same time as the
Federal Council
. Initially a
magistrate
function, its role became less important after 1918 when it served mainly as a career reward for distinguished public servants. The role however was revived and became the true Chief-of-Staff to the Federal Council following the 1967
mirage affair
.
[2]
[5]
Vice-Chancellor
[
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]
Initially named Federal Secretary (
Bundesschreiber
), the title of the
Vice-Chancellor
was established in 1851, first as Federal Chancellor Deputy, then formally as Vice-Chancellor in 1881. In order to provide a balance between languages and geographical representation, it became custom since 1895 to name a second Vice-Chancellor from a French-speaking canton if both the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor were Swiss-German. The second Vice-Chancellor became a permanent position in 1967.
[5]
Unlike the Federal Chancellor, Vice-Chancellors are appointed by the Federal Council directly.
After both Vice-Chancellors retired in 2005, a row erupted over language representation when
Oswald Sigg
was named successor to Vice-Chancellor and Federal Council spokesman
Achille Casanova
. With Federal Chancellor
Annemarie Huber-Hotz
and the other Vice-Chancellorship conferred to
Corina Casanova
(no relationship to Achille Casanova), the three key roles in the Federal Chancellery were held by Swiss Germans.
[6]
Remarkably enough, though, when Corinna Casanova was elected Federal Chancellor three years later, the nomination of
Thomas Helbling
as her successor, another Swiss German, raised no such public criticism. At the time, the
Tages-Anzeiger
speculated that this might be due to the Latin cantons aiming for the post of Oswald Sigg, due to retire a bit later.
[7]
Whether founded or not, the appointment of
Andre Simonazzi
in 2009 did indeed restore the language balance.
See also
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References
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External links
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