A portrait of Viola Amherd The "quiet doer" came under increasing pressure
Viola Amherd announced her resignation on Wednesday. The centrist Federal Councillor intends to relinquish her office at the end of March 2025. The "quiet doer" in the Federal Parliament has recently come under heavy criticism.
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- Central Federal Councillor Viola Amherd is stepping down from office at the end of March 2025.
- The highlight of her career came on December 5, 2018, when Amherd was elected to the Federal Council with 148 votes.
- She was the first woman to head the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS).
- However, her career was not always easy, especially towards the end.
- A portrait of the "quiet achiever".
Less than a week ago, the SVP launched a verbal attack on Federal Councillor Viola Amherd. On Saturday, it accused Amherd of "political missteps" and "bad appointments" in the Department of Defense and demanded the resignation of the head of the DDPS to great media effect.
But no one had expected this: Just four days after the SVP attack, there is a bang in Bern. At a media conference today, Federal Councillor Viola Amherd surprisingly announced her resignation. She will step down as early as the spring session at the end of March. She could not hide from the journalists that the past weeks and months have left their mark on her.
When she leaves the Federal Council, Amherd will have represented Die Mitte for almost six years. However, the 62-year-old's entry into politics did not necessarily follow the script.
Amherd was born in Brig in 1962 and grew up in the Upper Valais in a Catholic family. After studying law in Fribourg, she worked as a lawyer and notary.
Her political career began in 1992 with the Upper Valais CVP on the executive of Brig-Glis. From 2000 to 2012, she was president of the cantonal council before joining the National Council in 2005.
The "quiet doer"
At the beginning of her career, she says she had to be persuaded to run for office. She also entered national politics through the back door in 2005. As the first replacement on the CVP list, she succeeded Jean-Michel Cina in the National Council when he was elected to the Valais State Council.
In the National Council, Viola Amherd is regarded as a "quiet achiever" who has her dossiers under control. A look at her voting behavior and political initiatives in parliament shows that Amherd was committed to the mountain regions and a strong public service in the peripheral regions.
In addition, she was always a vehement supporter of the expansion of the Lötschberg tunnel, and she convinced parliament to implement a ban on the transportation of hazardous goods via the Simplon.
First female head of the DDPS
The CVP politician was often labeled "too left-wing and too feminist" by conservative circles. In the 1990s, she campaigned for the abortion solution and is now in favor of four-week paternity leave and gay marriage.
The highlight of her career came on December 5, 2018, when Amherd was elected to the Federal Council with 148 votes. She became the first woman to head the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS).
During her time in office, Amherd campaigned for the modernization of the army. She emphasized the role of the military in current threats such as cyber attacks and natural disasters and sought to increase the proportion of women in national defence. An important success was the narrow approval of the bill for the procurement of new fighter aircraft in September 2024.
Her role in relations between Switzerland and the EU was also of great importance during her term as President of the Swiss Confederation. On December 20, 2024, there was a breakthrough in the negotiations between Switzerland and the EU.
Increasingly under pressure
However, her time in office was not always easy. For example, the SVP leadership recently called for her resignation for various reasons. Among other things, they criticized the fact that Switzerland was no longer able to guarantee its own security under her leadership and accused her of being too preoccupied with gender issues in the army.
The SVP also described the situation in the DDPS as chaotic and blamed Amherd for numerous shortcomings. Bad political decisions, such as the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, were also cited.
Parliament's financial supervisory authority recently published a "list of failures" in a critical letter to the Minister of Defense. This includes seven armaments and IT projects with a total cost of CHF 19 billion that are affected by massive problems and delays. These include the procurement of a new airspace system, the commissioning of which has been significantly delayed due to integration problems, and the introduction of new logistics software, which has been stopped because it is not robust enough.
The pressure on the Federal Councillor has increased noticeably in recent months. Viola Amherd has now handed in her resignation. When asked by a journalist whether the timing of her resignation was not strange, she replied: "Deciding when to resign is the only decision that a Federal Councillor can make alone. I have decided that now".
