Hans Streuli

Hans Streuli

Hans Streuli (born July 13, 1892 in Zurich , † May 23, 1970 in Aarau , von Wädenswil ) was a Swiss politician ( FDP ).

He was elected to the Federal Council on December 22, 1953 . On December 31, 1959, he handed over his post after he had announced his resignation on November 19. During his tenure, he headed the Finance and Customs Department . He was Federal President in 1957 and Vice President in 1956.

origin

Streuli was born as the only child of Jean and Susette Streuli-Schmidt in Zurich. After moving to his home town of Wädenswil, he attended school there. After high school, which he had attended in Lausanne, he returned to Zurich and attended the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich , where he received his diploma as an architect in 1916 . He opened his own architecture office in 1918, again in Wädenswil. In 1922 he moved to Richterswil and married Clara Pünter, with whom he had two daughters and a son.

In 1928 Streuli was elected mayor of Richterswil. In 1935 he moved to the executive branch of the Canton of Zurich for the FDP . Contrary to his expectations, he was not assigned the building department, but the finance department. However, he soon acquired the necessary expertise. In this office he was instrumental in the restructuring of the canton's finances; a comprehensive tax reform was approved by the people in 1952.

Streuli was President of the Organizing Committee for the Swiss National Exhibition ("Landi") in Zurich in 1939, for which he received an honorary doctorate (Dr. oec. Publ.) From the University of Zurich in 1940 .

Election to the Federal Council

Streuli's social democratic predecessor, Max Weber , resigned on December 8, 1953, two days after a lost referendum on financial reform. His party gave up the vacant seat and wanted to return to the opposition . The claim of the most populous canton of Zurich to the Federal Council seat was undisputed, so that very few candidates were even considered. The FDP ported Streuli, the Catholic Conservatives (now CVP ) ported Emil Duft exactly one day before election day. The nominations were definitely politically motivated: Streuli was in favor of a direct federal tax, while Duft was vehemently against it. On the day of the nomination fragrance in Basel's published national newspaper two articles of the Zurich Journalist Dr. Fritz Heberlein. In the first article pointed out that fragrance is a representative of political Catholicism; in the second, he drew attention to a bribery affair in the US Army in Germany, in which the questionable payments were channeled through the bank, whose director-general was Duft. Streuli's opponents feared that he would pursue the same goals as his predecessor and ignore the referendum of December 6, 1953. Finally, Streuli was elected on December 22, 1953 with 113 out of 216 valid votes in the second ballot.

Activity in the Federal Council

As expected, Streuli took over the finance and customs department. His main focus was on reorganizing the federal financial system, which, however, met with widespread resistance, not least from his own party. The introduction of a uniform federal tax was criticized in particular because it would place an undue burden on high incomes and the economy. He tried to keep federal spending as low as possible, despite the good economic situation and correspondingly rising tax revenues. After a few setbacks, in 1958 he succeeded in at least establishing the tax system that had been in use since the war. In addition, he achieved the establishment of financial equalization between the cantons in the constitution.

resignation

Streuli resigned from the Federal Council on December 31, 1959 at the age of 67. On December 17, 1959, four new members were elected to the Federal Council. The composition of the Federal Council then followed the so-called magic formula until 2003 . Streuli's direct successor in the finance department was Jean Bourgknecht .

Hans Streuli was one of the few politicians who were elected to the Federal Council without ever having been a member of a legislature.

literature

• Urs Altermatt (Ed.) The Swiss Federal Councilors, a biographical lexicon; Artemis Verlag Zurich and Munich; 1991; ISBN 3-7608-0702-X

Web links

• Katja Hürlimann: Hans Streuli. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

predecessor	Office	successor
Max Weber	Member of the Swiss Federal Council 1954–1959	Willy Spühler