The roles of Parliament

Parliament is responsible for enacting legislation, releasing funding, electing the members of the highest federal authorities and overseeing the Federal Council, the Federal Administration and the federal courts.

Legislation

Parliament enacts legislative provisions in the form of federal acts or ordinances. Amendments to the Federal Constitution must be put to the vote of the People and the Cantons.

The Federal Constitution
forms the bedrock of the Swiss Confederation. The People and the Cantons are the gatekeepers of the Constitution. Parliament can draft amendments to the Federal Constitution, but must put them to the vote of the People and the Cantons. People can launch a popular initiative to amend the Constitution.

Federal acts
formulate in detail the provisions of the Constitution. They are enacted by Parliament, but are subject to an optional referendum: If 50,000 eligible voters or eight cantons request a referendum, the act is submitted to the People for a vote. A majority of voters must approve the act for it to come into force.

Ordinances
complement the acts. The Federal Council and the departments enact most of the ordinances, which are issued without the participation of Parliament. In the case of an important ordinance, the relevant parliamentary committee may request that a draft text be submitted for consultation. Ordinances are not subject to referendums.

Election of federal authorities

The National Council and the Council of States come together for elections to form the United Federal Assembly, which elects the members of the federal government and the federal courts and, in the event of war, appoints a general. During the winter session, it elects one member of the Federal Council as president of the federal government, and another as vice president, each for a one-year mandate. The United Federal Assembly also elects the Federal Council’s chief of staff, also known as the Federal Chancellor, the Attorney General of Switzerland and the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.

Federal Council elections 2019 and 2022

During the last Federal Council elections in December 2019, Parliament – meeting as the United Federal Assembly – re-elected all the members of the Federal Council. After gaining over 10% of the votes for the first time in the October 2019 parliamentary elections, the Green Party was able to put its own candidate on the ballot. The Green Party ran against the FDP, however the FDP federal councillors Karin Keller-Sutter and Ignazio Cassis were able to hold on to their seats after being re-elected by an absolute majority. The newly elected Federal Council therefore remained unchanged.

Following the resignations of federal councillors Ueli Maurer (SVP) and Simonetta Sommaruga (SP), Parliament elected two new members to the Federal Council on 7 December 2022: Albert Rösti (SVP) and Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (SP).

Budget control and oversight

Parliament has sovereignty over federal finances: it determines the budget for the following year, takes note of the Federal Council’s budget and approves the state accounts of the previous year. Parliament votes on the budget during the winter session. The items of business move quickly from one chamber to the other. In the event that the National Council and the Council of States are unable to reach an agreement on the federal budget, the lower amount is accepted. The finance and control committees and their delegations are in charge of overseeing the Federal Budget. They check the work of the Federal Council, the Federal Administration and the federal courts, and thereby also examine the effectiveness of these authorities.

The technical term for the Swiss Parliament is ‘Federal Assembly’. Article 148 of the Federal Constitution reads, for example: “Subject to the rights of the People and Cantons, the Federal Assembly is the supreme authority of the Confederation.”

Video about the roles of the Federal Assembly (in German)

Legislative provisions are enacted in the form of federal acts and ordinances. The other form of enactment is the federal decree. Referendums are required only for a small number of federal acts. Simple federal decrees and ordinances cannot be stopped by a referendum.

In the 51th legislature period (2019 – 2023) Parliament enacted 515 decrees:

187 federal acts
83 federal decrees
229 simple federal decrees
16 ordinances