ZURICH, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer will step down at the end of this year, he told a news conference on Friday.
Maurer, a fiscal hawk and member of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, has been finance minister since 2016. He had also served as defence minister and held the revolving Swiss presidency in 2013.
His successor is set to be decided on Dec. 7, when assignments in the cabinet will be determined, he said.
Maurer, 71, said no single event had led to his decision to step down, but he noted that after four decades in politics, it was time for a change.
“In the past one-and-a-half years, I felt I have a lot of energy to do something else,” he said.
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Reporting by Michael Shields, Editing by Miranda Murray
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