1. Hans-Rudolf Merz concurrently served as a member of the Federal Council from 2004 to 2010 for the Free Democratic Party.
13 Facts About Hans-Rudolf Merz
1. 2.
In 1866, his great-great-grandfather, Heinrich Hans-Rudolf Merz, emigrated to Eastern Switzerland, where the family was active in the textile industry until 1970.
3.
Hans-Rudolf Merz presided over the finance committee and was a member of the foreign policy committee.
4.
Hans-Rudolf Merz was elected to the Swiss Federal Council on 10 December 2003 and took office on 1 January 2004.
5.
Hans-Rudolf Merz was a member of the board of trustees of the Max Schmidheiny Foundation.
6.
On 20 September 2008, whilst in Eastern Switzerland, Hans-Rudolf Merz was rushed to hospital, having suffered from a heart attack.
7.
Hans-Rudolf Merz was flown to Bern University Hospital, where he had a multiple bypass operation.
8.
On 10 December 2008, as the Member of the Federal Council that had not been its president for the longest time, Hans-Rudolf Merz was elected President of the Confederation for 2009.
9.
On 20 September 2010, a recording of Hans-Rudolf Merz replying to a question about meat imports in the Federal Assembly became a viral video, drawing international attention.
10.
Hans-Rudolf Merz convulsed with laughter when speaking, later saying that he found the dense bureaucratic language of the reply drafted for him by customs officials amusing.
11.
Hans-Rudolf Merz was attempting to provide information about whether the sales of Bundnerfleisch in Switzerland were endangered by meat imports.
12.
In 1968, Hans-Rudolf Merz married Roswitha Katharina Schuller, daughter of Wilhelm Schuller, an artist, and Anna Schuller.
13.
Hans-Rudolf Merz is an aficionado for classical music and the opera.