Switzerland Elects New President and Government

On Wednesday, December 13, Switzerland elected a new president and appointed a new government for the next four years, Reuters reports.

The current Minister of Defence Viola Amherd will take over as president in January, replacing Alain Berset in this honourable position, which rotates annually among the country's cabinet members.

The country's parliament also voted to elect Beat Jans to the seven-member cabinet to succeed Berset, who has decided to step down at the end of the year.

The other members of the cross-party cabinet were re-elected for another four-year term.

The balance of the Swiss government will not change after a shift to the right in the October general election, as Jans comes from the same centre-left Social Democratic Party as Berset.

Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider was also re-elected to the Federal Council from the Social Democratic Party.

Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter, both from the centre-right Free Liberals, also remain in office.

Transport Minister Albert Roesti and Economy Minister Guy Parmelin of the Swiss People's Party were also re-elected.

New President Amherd represents the Centre Party in the consensus coalition.

As a reminder, the chairman of the Swiss Green Party, Balthasar Glaettli, decided to resign from his post after the party's poor results in the October elections.

The last parliamentary elections in Switzerland, held in October, were won by the right-wing populist Swiss People's Party (SVP), which showed one of the best results in the history of the political party.

As The Gaze previously reported, in 2023, Switzerland froze Russian assets worth about $8.8 billion. This was done as part of the sanctions imposed on Russia to limit its ability to wage a bloody war in Ukraine.

The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, which directly monitors compliance with the sanctions regime, noted that the $8.8 billion figure is not final and is subject to change.

This year's figure for frozen Russian assets is slightly higher than the previous year, when Switzerland froze $7.9 billion.

This growth is due to the expansion of the sanctions list, which in 2023 was supplemented by 300 individuals and 100 companies. In addition, a significant percentage of this amount is made up of income from deposits, bonds, shares and property.

In addition, Switzerland blocked the movement in foreign currency of Russian assets owned by the Russian central bank in the amount of CHF 7.4 billion.