Queen Elizabeth

“I should have two sentences in Italian on my sheet… Well, I’ll do better next time.” Even during her acceptance speech, Elisabeth Baume-Schneider brought happiness under the dome of the Federal Palace – another example of the spontaneity with which she had enchanted 123 parliamentarians of the Federal Assembly on Wednesday so that they voted for her. But her candidly admitted mistake also shows that she didn’t really expect to become a federal councillor.

“EBS” was intended to play the role of the imprisoned loser, while Eva Herzog finally had to return the canton of Basel-Stadt to the Bundesrat after half a century.

Husband Pierre-André Baume, a driving instructor by profession, had to borrow a suit from his son Luc before election day. His everyday life will change radically – but he is already used to living in the shadow of his successful wife.

The Jurassic lobby at work

The victory of the Social Democrat is also a triumph for the “Team Jura”. One only had to look at the faces of the centrist Jura politicians Charles Juillard (59, Council of States) and Jean-Paul Gschwind (70, National Council) to suspect that this election has much more than party political aspects. The country’s youngest canton has one of the smallest delegations in the Federal Palace, but EBS supporters have lobbied heavily behind the scenes to win over parliamentarians one by one – especially in the National Council, where SP Switzerland’s vice president is less is known.

Last but not least, the Federal Council elections are a matter of preparation and timing. Daniel Jositsch, who caused one of the most spectacular political own goals in Swiss history, could have learned from his party colleague: Elisabeth Baume-Schneider has never lost an election in almost 30 years in politics.

Breastfeeding in Parliament

In 1994, at the age of 30, the trained social worker moved to Parliament jurassien. Four years later, she was already at the top of the SP list, was re-elected and chaired the cantonal parliament the following year. She became known beyond the borders of the Jura when she breastfed her son in the midst of the deputies.

In 2003, she became the first socialist elected to the Jura government. It was then a matter of honor for Maman Baume-Schneider (50 of the 1,500 inhabitants of Les Breuleux bear the surname Baume) to carve out a free afternoon for her children.

As a federal councilor, she was already under discussion in 2010, but decided not to run: “The timing is not right for me.” She preferred her mandate in the Jura government.

Radical like Daniel Vasella

And what about their membership in the Socialist Workers’ Party, the successor to the Revolutionary Marxist League? In the words of Baume-Schneider on Wednesday, it went like this: “When you’re young, you have utopias. It’s bad when you’re indifferent.” At the same time, a certain Daniel Vasella was also active in that splinter group. His career should reassure anyone who is concerned about the resume of the new federal councilor.

In the Jura it is difficult to find EBS opponents. Everyone praises the ability of this executive woman, who spent 13 years in a minority in the canton government, to “build bridges”. Now she has also announced this before the Federal Council. The 10th Federal Councillor, the first with gray hair, will not be Queen of England, but she certainly has the potential for exceptional popularity.