Moritz Leuenberger

Moritz Leuenberger (Biel/Bienne, canton of Bern, Switzerland, September 21, 1946) is a Swiss politician, member of the Swiss Socialist Party and former federal councilor. He originally from the commune of Rohrbach. He practiced law from 1972 to 1991 and chaired the Swiss tenants' association.

Political career

He was a member of the Zurich city council from 1974 to 1983 and was then elected to the National Council in 1979. In 1991, he was elected state councilor of the canton of Zurich. There he heads the Department of the Interior and Justice. He accumulated two terms until 1995.

On September 27, 1995, he was elected to the Federal Council, where he was in charge of the direction of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DATEC) since November 1, 1995.

He was president of the confederation in 2001 and 2006 and vice president in 2000, 2005 and 2010. On July 9, 2010, Leuenberger presented his retirement from the federal council at the end of the year. Following the resignation of Hans-Rudolf Merz, Leuenberger decides to advance his retirement to the same date as his colleague to avoid the preparation of two different votes.