Federal Assembly (Switzerland) - Groups

Groups

Switzerland
This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Switzerland
Constitution
  • Human rights
Federal Council
  • List of members
    • Doris Leuthard
    • Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf (Pres. 12)
    • Ueli Maurer (VP 12)
    • Didier Burkhalter
    • Simonetta Sommaruga
    • Johann Schneider-Ammann
    • Alain Berset
  • Federal Chancellor
    • Corina Casanova
  • Federal administration
Federal Assembly
  • Council of States
    • List of members
  • National Council
    • List of members
  • Political parties
Elections
  • Voting in Switzerland
  • 2003
  • 2007
  • 2011
Federal courts
  • Federal Supreme Court
  • Federal Criminal Court
  • Federal Administrative Court
Foreign relations
  • Switzerland and
    the European Union
Subdivisions
  • Cantons
  • Municipalities
  • Other countries
  • Atlas

Politics portal

Parties can cooperate in groups, allowing smaller parties access to rights as part of a caucus. These groups must have at least five members and must be maintained across both chambers. Being a member of a formal group gives members the right to sit on committees, and those that aren't members can't speak in most debates. Each group receives a fixed allowance of €112,000, whilst each member of a group also receives an additional €20,800 a year each.

Since March 2009, there have been six groups in the Federal Assembly. The latest group to form was the Conservative Democratic Party which split off the Swiss People's Party in 2008. The Christian Democrats/EPP/glp Group (CEg) was formed after the 2007 elections, out of the former Christian Deocratic (C) and EPP (E) groups. The current FTP/Liberal group (RL) was formed in 2003 out of the former FDP (R) and Liberal (L) groups; since the 2009 fusion of the Free Democrati and Liberal Parties, RL is once again a single-party group. In 2011, the CEg was disbanded, the Green Liberals formed their own faction (GL) and the three Christian parties formed the Christian-Evangelical Group (CE).

Currently (as of 2012), the seven factions are composed as follows:

Group Parties NC CS Total
People's Faction (V) Swiss People's Party 54 5 62
Ticino League 2 0
Independent 0 1
Social Democrats Faction (S) Social Democratic Party 46 11 57
Christian-Evangelical Faction (CE) Christian Democratic People's Party 28 13 44
Evangelical People's Party 2 0
Christian Social Party 1 0
FDP.The Liberals Faction (RL) FDP.The Liberals 30 11 41
Green Faction (G) Green Party 15 2 17
Green Liberal Faction (GL) Green Liberal Party 12 2 14
BDP Faction (BD) Conservative Democratic Party 9 1 10
Without Faction Geneva Citizens' Movement 1 0 1

Read more about this topic:  Federal Assembly (Switzerland)

Famous quotes containing the word groups:

    “As in political revolutions, so in paradigm choice—there is no standard higher than the assent of the relevant community. To discover how scientific revolutions are effected, we shall therefore have to examine not only the impact of nature and of logic, but also the techniques of persuasive argumentation effective within the quite special groups that constitute the community of scientists.”
    —Thomas S. Kuhn (b. 1922)

    “In properly organized groups no faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust and even that only for a little while, for the sooner a man begins to verify all he hears the better it is for him.”
    —George Gurdjieff (c. 1877–1949)

    “In America every woman has her set of girl-friends; some are cousins, the rest are gained at school. These form a permanent committee who sit on each other’s affairs, who “come out” together, marry and divorce together, and who end as those groups of bustling, heartless well-informed club-women who govern society. Against them the Couple of Ehepaar is helpless and Man in their eyes but a biological interlude.”
    —Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)