<P> In Switzerland the seven - member Federal Council constitutes the government . Each year, the Federal Assembly elects a President of the Confederation . By convention, the positions of President and Vice President rotate annually, each Councillor thus becoming Vice President and then President every seven years while in office . </P> <P> The President is not the Swiss head of state, but he or she is the highest - ranking Swiss official . He or she presides over Council meetings and carries out certain representative functions that, in other countries, are the business of the Head of State . In urgent situations where a Council decision cannot be made in time, the President is empowered to act on behalf of the whole Council . Apart from that, though, the President is a primus inter pares, having no power above and beyond the other six Councillors . </P> <P> The term "Prime Minister" can be compared to "primary minister" or "first minister". Because of this, the Prime Ministers of many countries are traditionally considered to be "first among equals"--they are the chairman or "head" of a Cabinet rather than holding an office that is de jure superior to that of ministers . </P> <P> The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has frequently been described as "first among equals". In the UK, the executive is the Cabinet, and during Hanoverian times a minister had the role of informing the monarch about proposed legislation in the House of Commons and other matters . In modern times, however, although the phrase is still occasionally used, it understates the powers of the Prime Minister, which now include many broad, exclusive, executive powers over which cabinet members have little influence . </P>

Who has called the prime minister primus inter pares