Surprise moment in the video This is how Amherd explains her resignation

Viola Amherd is stepping down from the Federal Council. The head of the DDPS announced on Wednesday that she will be stepping down at the end of March.

Federal Councillor Viola Amherd is stepping down. The head of the DDPS is leaving the federal government at the end of March. Amherd made the surprising announcement on Wednesday.

Amherd's resignation speech in full:

Ladies and gentlemen

I informed the President of the National Council and the Federal Council today that I will be leaving the Federal Government on March 31, 2025.

After over 30 years of political work, more than a quarter of a century in an executive function, it is time to pass on the baton.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported my work since I was elected to the Federal Council in 2018.

In particular, the more than 12,000 employees in the six offices, Group V, the State Secretariat for Security and the General Secretariat.

I would also like to thank the Federal Council and Parliament in their various compositions since 2018 for the fact that my most important proposals to strengthen the security of the population have found a majority and that Swiss security policy has been further developed as a result.

This is not to say that all tasks have been completed. There will still be plenty of work and challenges for my successor.

Nor do I want to claim that everything has gone perfectly. But it has been possible to set a decisive course, to set stakes and to initiate the necessary changes.

I will leave it to you to take stock.

My work in the Federal Council was characterized by major challenges, exciting topics and many creative opportunities, which I was delighted to take on.

The presidential year in particular will remain a fond memory for me.

The goals I formulated at the beginning of the year were achieved.

I see the growing polarization, the spreading spitefulness in political discourse and the increased assertion of special interests through the pure exercise of power as increasingly difficult for our institutions, our democratic system and the preservation of Swiss values.

It is the duty of politicians, but also of society as a whole, to counteract this development. Especially the fourth estate.

Thank you very much.

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