Simonetta Sommaruga

Simonetta Sommaruga
President of Switzerland
In office 1 January 2015 – 31 December 2015
Vice President	Johann Schneider-Ammann
Preceded by	Didier Burkhalter
Succeeded by	Johann Schneider-Ammann
Vice President of Switzerland
In office 1 January 2014 – 31 December 2014
President	Didier Burkhalter
Preceded by	Didier Burkhalter
Succeeded by	Johann Schneider-Ammann
Head of the Department of Justice and Police
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 November 2010
Preceded by	Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf
Member of the Swiss Federal Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 November 2010
Preceded by	Moritz Leuenberger
Personal details
Born	(1960-05-14) 14 May 1960 Zug, Switzerland
Political party	Social Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Lukas Hartmann
Alma mater	Lucerne University University of Fribourg

Simonetta Sommaruga (born 14 May 1960) is a Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland who is a current member of the Swiss Federal Council, the federal government of Switzerland, and head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police (the Swiss justice minister). She served as Vice President of the Swiss Confederation for the year 2014, and in 2015 succeeded to the role of President.

Biography

Early life

Born in Zug, Sommaruga grew up with two brothers and a sister in Sins, Aargau. She attended the gymnasium at Immensee, Schwyz and trained as a pianist at the Lucerne School of Music. From 1988 to 1991, she attended English and Romance studies at the University of Fribourg.

Professional career

Sommaruga held the directorship of the Swiss Consumer Protection Foundation (Stiftung für Konsumentenschutz) from 1993 to 1999, which earned her public recognition in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. She has held the presidency of that foundation since 1999, and that of the aid organization Swissaid since 2003. She is also patron of SAFFA 2020, as well as the federal councillors (Bundesrat) Doris Leuthard, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and the former councillor (aBR) Micheline Calmy-Rey.

Political career

Sommaruga's political career began as a Social Democrat member of the Grand Council of Bern from 1981 to 1990. She served in the municipal government of Köniz from 1998 to 2005. In 1999, she was elected to the National Council of Switzerland and in 2003 to the upper chamber, the Council of States, representing the Canton of Bern.

On 11 August 2010, she announced her candidacy to succeed Moritz Leuenberger in the 2010 Swiss Federal Council election. She was elected on 22 September 2010.

She was elected as Vice President of the Confederation for 2014 alongside President Didier Burkhalter.

On 3 December 2014, she was elected as President of the Confederation for 2015, with Johann Schneider-Ammann as Vice President. She served until December 31, 2015, when Schneider-Ammann succeeded her.

Personal life

Sommaruga is married to the writer Lukas Hartmann and lives in Spiegel near Bern. She is a distant relative of Cornelio Sommaruga and with Carlo Sommaruga

Publications

• Für eine moderne Schweiz. Ein praktischer Reformplan, with Rudolf Strahm, Nagel & Kimche, Munich, 2005, ISBN 3-312-00356-3
• Gurtenmanifest für eine neue und fortschrittliche SP-Politik PDF (235 KB), 10 May 2001

External links

• Biography of Simonetta Sommaruga on the website of the Swiss Parliament.
• Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga

Political offices
Preceded by Moritz Leuenberger	Member of the Swiss Federal Council 2010–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf	Head of the Department of Justice and Police 2010–present
Preceded by Didier Burkhalter	Vice President of Switzerland 2014	Succeeded by Johann Schneider-Ammann
	President of Switzerland 2015