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Home | Office Holder | Moritz Leuenberger
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Leuenberger was elected to the Federal Council on 27 September 1995 as a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPS/PSS) from the Canton of Zürich. From 1991 to 1995, he was a member of the government of the Canton of Zurich. Since 1995, Leuenberger has headed the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (Environment and Communications were added to the name of the department in 1998). Leuenberger has been married to architect Gret Loewensberg since 2003. At a ceremony in Brussels, the Community of European Railways and Union des Industries Ferroviaires Européennes presented the 2009 European Railway Awards on January 20, 2009. Leuenberger was presented with the Political Award for his work to build and maintain a sustainable transportation policy. On July 9, 2010 Leuenberger announced he would leave the Federal Council as of December 31, 2010. At this time Hans-Rudolf Merz had been expected to resign as well and there were talks between the two about resigning together. Leuenberger's resignation came as a complete surprise. One month later, on August 6, 2010, Hans-Rudolf Merz also announced his resignation for October. This led to the situation that the parliament would have had to elect a new Federal Councillor both in September and November. To avoid this situation, Leuenberger then announced he would change his resignation to allow for just one election for both new Councillors. |
