Karl Huber (politician)

Karl Huber
11th Chancellor of Switzerland
In office 1968–1981
Preceded by	Charles Oser
Succeeded by	Walter Buser
Personal details
Born	18 October 1915 Saint-Gall, Switzerland
Died	16 September 2002 Bern, Switzerland
Alma mater	University of Bern

Karl Huber (born 18 October 1915 in Morges, Switzerland) was a Swiss politician and civil servant, as well as a member of the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland (CVP).

After finishing his studies at Saint-Gall, he pursued legal studies at the University of Bern where he obtained his doctorate in 1939. In 1941 he was a legal collaborator with the Department of the Economy before being named in 1954 to the general secretariat of the federal Department of the Economy, where he served from 1957 until 1967.

In 1967, he was elected Chancellor of the Confederation. The "magic formula" was applicable for the first time to the Chancellery as his Vice-Chancellors included the radical Jean-Marc Sauvant and the socialist Walter Buser.

Following his appointment, Huber reduces and streamlines the way the Federal Council makes decisions: he standardizes the presentation of files, prescribes rules for the presentation of legislation, develops the first guidelines for the coming parliamentary term, and advocates for the search of consensual solutions by the four government parties. These reforms are formalized in the 1978 law on the organization of the administration. Political rights are condensed into a single law approved by referendum on 4 December 1977.

Huber left his post in 1981 to retire. The University of Fribourg awarded him an honorary doctorate.