The Swiss pride themselves on their ability to reach consensus through compromise.

When a Federal Councillor proposes new legislation, a long process of discussion follows before it becomes law.  

Once the other members of the Federal Council have been convinced, various relevant lobbies will be consulted to help formulate a draft bill. The draft then goes to one of the two chambers of the Swiss Federal Assembly. The chamber discusses it in committee, then as a body. Once the proposal has passed the hurdle of the first chamber, it moves on to the other one where the procedure is repeated. The order in which the chambers examine any particular proposal is decided by their speakers. No proposal can become law unless it is accepted by both chambers of Federal Assembly.

Even then, it could still be opposed by a special-interest lobby, who might threaten to collect signatures for a referendum in a bid to thwart the bill entirely. To avert this threat, the government might suggest a compromise to persuade the opponents not to go ahead with the referendum call.

Opposition in parliament

The Federal Assembly might be expected to support every government proposal, since the strongest parties in parliament are all represented in the Federal Council.

However, this is not the case. Proposals made by the Federal Council are often rejected by the Federal Assembly or by the people.

This is how the Swiss system of compromise is designed to work: rejection of government proposals is part of the Swiss democratic process. It does not lead to a government crisis, votes of confidence or to resignations.