Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf to stand down

Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf has announced she will not stand for re-election for a third term. She said she would remain in the post until the end of the year, after cabinet elections find a replacement on December 9.  "People have been asking me for eight years when I'm going to resign," she said at a packed media conference in Bern on Wednesday. She said she had decided, after speaking with her family, friends and colleagues, that now was the right time to go.  “There are other things I like doing very much and to which I haven’t been able to devote enough time over the past eight years. Now I plan to address that.”  Relaxed and witty, Widmer-Schlumpf, 59, said she had taken the decision on October 19, the day after federal elections in which her party, the centre-right Conservative Democratic Party, dwindled to 4.1% of the vote. This put additional pressure on her seat in the cabinet.  But that was not the decisive factor, she said.