National Day Parmelin: "Our country has nothing to be ashamed of"

Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin has called on Switzerland not to make itself smaller than it is. "Our country has nothing to be ashamed of," he said on Wednesday evening in Lucerne.

Parmelin dedicated his speech on the eve of August 1st to the question of whether it is indecent to show national pride openly. "Is Switzerland condemned to modesty because of its modest size?" he asked the several hundred people who had gathered on the Europaplatz under the large canopy of the KKL Lucerne despite the stormy weather.

For the head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER), the answer was clear. Switzerland knows how to help itself, he said. "We can confidently stand up for it".

Switzerland's problem is that it often looks at itself through the wrong lens, making everything look very small, said Parmelin. The country tends to make itself smaller than it is.

Stable institutions

Switzerland has a remarkable quality of life, great cultural diversity, many freedoms, but no oppression, hardly any corruption or unemployment, said Parmelin. The country has stable institutions. "There are no sudden changes of course that can quickly destroy what has been carefully built up over the years," he said.

However, there is no reason for complacency, said the Federal Councillor. Like many other countries, Switzerland also has its problems. Parmelin called for the national holiday to be used for self-reflection and to think about improvements.

The world is "nervous and agitated", said the SVP minister. This worries many people. Instead of being "overwhelmed by impressions and prejudices", he appealed for everything to be analyzed rationally first.

The celebration began in the afternoon with folklore and jazz. The federal celebration was organized by the 31/07 association, which is chaired by Lucerne's member of parliament Andrea Gmür.