Johann Ulrich Schiess
When the modern-day Swiss Confederation was founded in 1848 it was stipulated that the Federal Chancellor would be the Secretary to the National Council and the Deputy Chancellor would be the Secretary to the Council of States.
In the 1920s a set of regulations was adopted setting out in detail the tasks of the Federal Chancellery. These regulations included the new function of the “Secretary to serve the two chambers” (who was allotted technical and organisational tasks such as ensuring the exchange of documentation between the National Council and the Council of States). During the debate that preceded the adoption of these regulations it was also agreed that the Chancellor would attend meetings of the National Council whenever possible but would no longer keep the minutes. This duty was transferred to two secretaries or one secretary and a translator.[1] Thereafter the Chancellor would be responsible only for business dealings between parliament and the Federal Council. This reduced the close contact with the National Council and the position of influence enjoyed by the Chancellor. The Council of States was in favour of the Deputy Chancellor retaining his position as keeper of the minutes or Secretary, however.
The introduction in the 1920s of two secretaries to keep the minutes in the National Council did not meet with approval throughout. In 1934 this service was reduced when the newly elected Federal Chancellor George Bovet retained his position as Secretary to the National Council after his new appointment. The Chancellor continued to keep the minutes for the National Council up until 1967/68 when the new Federal Chancellor Karl Huber declined this task, and the Deputy Chancellor continued to do likewise for the Council of States until Deputy Chancellor François Couchepin renounced this task.
In 1962 the revised legislation on business dealings between the federal chambers and the Federal Council gave the Parliamentary Services greater independence vis-à-vis the Federal Chancellery: the Secretary General of the Federal Assembly would now be answerable to the Presidents of the federal chambers. In 1972 a clear separation was established between the functioning of the Parliamentary Services and the Chancellery, although the former would remain answerable to the latter on an administrative level. With the total revision of the federal constitution in 1999, the Parliamentary Services finally gained their independence from the Federal Chancellery in administrative matters (Articles 155 and 179).
[1] Only the first of the two names appearing each time in the Federal Directory is given in the above list.
- Federal Directory 1848-2011
- A Guided Tour of the History of the Federal Chancellery; online (as at 21.6.2011, not available in English)