Federal Council (Switzerland) in the context of "Languages of Switzerland"

San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino (RSM), is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two microstates within Italy, the other being Vatican City. San Marino is the fifth-smallest country in the world, with a land area of just over 61 km (23.5 mi) and a population of 34,042 as of 2025. Its capital, the City of San Marino, sits atop Monte Titano, while its largest settlement is Dogana, in the municipality of Serravalle.

San Marino claims to have been founded in AD 301 and to be the oldest extant sovereign state and the oldest constitutional republic. It is named after Saint Marinus, a stonemason from the Roman island of Rab (in present-day Croatia), who is supposed in mythic accounts to have established a monastic community on Monte Titano. The country has a rare constitutional structure: the Grand and General Council, a democratically elected legislature, selects two heads of state, the Captains Regent, every six months. They are chosen from opposing political parties, and serve concurrently with equal powers and preside over several institutions of state, including the Grand and General Council. Only the Federal Council of Switzerland also follows that structure, except with seven heads of state, and different responsibilities and functions.

The Ambassador of Switzerland to France is the representative of the government of Switzerland in France and thus responsible for maintaining diplomatic relations between Switzerland and France.

The president of the Swiss Confederation, also known as the president of the confederation, federal president or colloquially as the president of Switzerland is, as primus inter pares among the other members of the Federal Council, the head of Switzerland's seven-member executive branch. Elected by the Federal Assembly for one year, the officeholder chairs the meetings of the Federal Council and undertakes special representational duties.

First among equals, the president of the Confederation has no powers over and above the other six councillors and continues to head the assigned department. Traditionally the duty rotates among the members in order of seniority; the vice president of the Federal Council assumes the presidency the year after the officeholder's tenure. The president of the Confederation is not the head of state because the entire Federal Council is the collective head of state.

Concordance democracy is a type of governing / ruling a country that aims to involve as many different groups as possible (parties, associations, minorities, social groups) in the political process and to make decisions by reaching a consensus. In this respect, concordance democracy is a form of consensus democracy. The counter-model to concordance democracy is called competitive democracy or majority democracy.

In Swiss politics, the concordance system (German Konkordanzsystem) is manifested by the integration of the major political parties into the seven-member Federal Council.

The Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA, German: Eidgenössisches Departement des Innern, French: Département fédéral de l'intérieur, Italian: Dipartimento federale dell'interno, Romansh: Departament federal da l'intern) is a department of the federal administration of Switzerland. Since 2024, it is headed by Federal Councillor Élisabeth Baume-Schneider.

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA; German: Eidgenössisches Departement für auswärtige Angelegenheiten; French: Département fédéral des affaires étrangères; Italian: Dipartimento federale degli affari esteri; Romansh: Departament federal d’affars exteriurs), so named since 1979, is one of the seven Departments of the Swiss government federal administration of Switzerland, and corresponds in its range of tasks to the ministry of foreign affairs in other countries. The department is always headed by one of the members of the Swiss Federal Council. Since 1 November 2017, the department is headed by Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis.

In Swiss politics, the magic formula (German: Zauberformel, French: formule magique, Italian: formula magica, Romansh: furmla magica) is an arithmetic formula for dividing the seven executive seats on the Federal Council among the four coalition parties. The formula was first applied in 1959. It gave the Free Democratic Party (now FDP.The Liberals), the Catholic Conservative Party (later Christian Democratic People's Party, now The Centre) and the Social Democratic Party two seats each, while the Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents (now the Swiss People's Party; SVP/UDC) received one seat.

The formula is not a legal requirement but the result of an agreement among the four large coalition parties. After the 2003 general election, the formula was modified, giving two seats to the SVP at the expense of the Christian Democrats. This was because the Swiss People's Party received 29% of the votes in the election, making it Switzerland's largest party by vote share.

The Federal Chancellery of Switzerland is a department-level agency of the federal administration of Switzerland. It is the staff organisation of the federal government, the Federal Council. Since 2024, it has been headed by Federal Chancellor Viktor Rossi of the Green Liberal Party of Switzerland.