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Élisabeth Baume-Schneider

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Élisabeth Baume-Schneider
Official portrait, 2024
Swiss Federal Councillor
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 January 2023
DepartmentJustice and Police (2023)
Home Affairs (2024–present)
Preceded bySimonetta Sommaruga
Member of the Swiss Council of States
Incumbent
Assumed office
2 December 2019
ConstituencyJura
Member of the Government of the Canton of Jura
In office
1 January 2003 – 31 December 2015
DepartmentEducation (2003–2006)
Formation, Culture and Sports (2007–2015)
Personal details
BornÉlisabeth Schneider
(1963-12-24) 24 December 1963 (age 61)
Saint-Imier, Switzerland
Political partySocial Democratic Party
SpousePierre-André Baume
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Neuchâtel

Élisabeth Baume-Schneider (née Schneider; French pronunciation: [elizabɛt bom ʃnajdœʁ, -dɛʁ]; born 24 December 1963) is a Swiss politician who currently serves on the Federal Council (Switzerland) for the Social Democratic Party since 2023.[1] She was elected on 7 December 2022, as the first representative of the Canton of Jura.[2]

Early life and education

[edit]

Élisabeth Baume-Schneider was born Élisabeth Schneider on 24 December 1963 in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, the youngest of three children, to Jean Schneider (1922–2016), a farmer and local politician in Les Bois.[3][1] Her siblings are; Jean-Claude Schneider and Christiane Heiniger (née Schneider).

Her paternal grandparents were German-speaking from the Bernese Seeland. During her childhood she hated the Bernese dialect spoken at home.[4][5] In the 1980s, her parents lost their farm, Les Mûrs, due to the construction of a golf course.[6]

She graduated from high school in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1983 and following she studied social sciences at the University of Neuchâtel. She obtained a licentiate in 1987.[7] Between 1989 and 2002 she worked as a social worker in Franches-Montagnes and later for the cantonal administration of Jura.[7]

Political career

[edit]

In her early political career, she was influenced by the Polish Solidarnosc, her involvement at the Amnesty International and in the Socialist Workers Party, before she eventually joined the Social Democratic Party (SP).[8] in 1995 she became a member of the Parliament of Jura over which she presided in 2000.[9] Between December 2002[7] and 2015 she was a member of the government of the Canton of Jura[10] in which she acted as the minister of education culture and sports.[11] As such she was elected as the president of the strategic committee of the Haute École Arc [fr].[11] As an Executive Councilor of Jura, she was involved in the negotiations in transferring Moutier from the majority German speaking Canton Berne to Jura which is a majority francophone canton.[8] She also instituted the bilingual high school exam in the canton.[8]

In the federal elections of 2019, Baume-Schneider was elected to the Council of States.[9] In January 2020 she was elected to the advisory council of the Fachhochschule.[12] In November 2022, she announced her candidacy to the Federal Council of Switzerland.[13]

Federal Councilor

[edit]

On the 7 December 2022, she was elected to the federal council, replacing the previous, retiring federal councillor for the SP, Simonetta Sommaruga.[2] She is the first member of the federal council from the canton of Jura, the youngest of the Swiss cantons. Her election was controversial, as it meant that the German-speaking part of Switzerland, which constitutes the majority of the Swiss population, was now underrepresented in the federal council, with only 3 of the 7 councillors hailing from this region.[2] She was assigned to the Federal Departement of Justice and Police in succession of fellow Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter who became the head of the Federal Department of Finance.[14]

Personal life

[edit]

Baume-Schneider married Pierre-André Baume (born 1966) with whom she has two children.[9] They reside on a farm where she where she keeps Blacknose sheep.[8][13]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Ratsmitglied ansehen". Federal Assembly. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Bundesratswahlen - Baume-Schneider schafft Überraschung +++ Rösti folgt auf Maurer". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). 7 December 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Lexikon des Jura / Dictionnaire du Jura – Baume-Schneider, Elisabeth (1963-)". www.diju.ch (in German). Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  4. ^ "«Ich hasste die Berner Mundart»". Der Bund (in German). 8 November 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  5. ^ Nachrichtenredaktion. "Bundesratswahlen live: Wer folgt auf Maurer und Sommaruga?". Aargauer Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  6. ^ "Seit 15 Monaten im Amt - Elisabeth Baume-Schneider trotzt Kritik: «Ich weiss, wer ich bin»". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  7. ^ a b c "DIJU - Dictionnaire du Jura – Baume-Schneider, Elisabeth (1963-)". www.diju.ch. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d Knellwolf, Thomas (7 December 2022). "Elisabeth Baume-Schneider im Porträt – Die Unterschätzte ist ganz oben angekommen". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  9. ^ a b c "Ratsmitglied ansehen". Federal Assembly. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Ständeratswahlen Jura - CVP und SP verteidigen im Jura ihre Sitze im Ständerat". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). 19 October 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  11. ^ a b "Ministre de la santé, de la jeunesse, des sports et de la vie associative". Bulletin de l'Académie Nationale de Médecine. 192 (5): 853–860. May 2008. doi:10.1016/s0001-4079(19)32748-7. ISSN 0001-4079.
  12. ^ "Neue Politiker im Beirat von FH SCHWEIZ". FH News (in German). Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  13. ^ a b Biner, David (11 November 2022). "Die welsche Variable: Élisabeth Baume-Schneider will Bundesrätin werden und zwingt damit die Fraktion, das SP-Ticket auf drei Plätze aufzustocken". Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
  14. ^ Briner, Maja (10 January 2023). "Die neue Bundesrätin Baume-Schneider erbt einen Pendenzenberg". Aargauer Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 8 February 2023.
Political offices
Preceded by Member of the Swiss Federal Council
2023–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by Head of the Department of Justice and Police
2023 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Head of the Department of Home Affairs
2024–present 		Incumbent
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