The government itself is known as the Bundesrat, or Federal Council. It consists of seven members and is a permanent coalition, with no one party or person ever in control. Each Federal Councillor is in charge of a department of state, such as the self-explanatory Finance or Foreign Affairs, or more nebulous Home Affairs, which covers everything from health and social security to statistics and culture. Or (my personal favourite) Defence, Civil Protection and Sports; Switzerland is possibly the only country to have a Defence Minister responsible for PE. The Councillors take it in turns to be
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