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Excellencies, Speaker and Deputy
Speaker of the House of Federation,
Honourable Members of the House of Representatives and the House
of Federation,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me to address the participants of this
workshop on Ethiopian Nations, Nationalities and Peoples, for I
feel very close to the topics you are going to discuss today. As
Ethiopia, Switzerland is characterised by the diversity of its population.
It has 4 national languages, 2 major religions, and a share of
20 per cent of foreigners who all brought along their own culture.
How can people live together under these circumstances? I can assure
you: They do, and they even manage quite well.
64 per cent of the Swiss speak German as mother tongue, 20 per cent
French, 7 per cent Italian and 1 per cent Rae to-Romanic, a unique
language used only in a few mountain areas. Foreigners might
have the impression that all Swiss master all these languages. This
is not quite true. However, there is a collective effort to understand
each other. It can take various forms:
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Official
documents, depending on their importance, are translated into at
least some of the other languages.
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Semi-public
television and radio stations offer a full range of programmes in
German, French and Italian, and broadcast also in Rae to-Romanic.
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Pupils
have to learn as a minimum one other national language at school.
For me, coming from Basel in the German speaking part of Switzerland,
it was French. Afterwards, when I studied in Geneva in the French
speaking part, I was glad that I could use what I had learned. Many
of my compatriots have made similar experiences. Sometimes a passive
knowledge of another language is already very helpful. In Parliament,
e.g., debates are normally not translated. However, each Member
of Parliament is supposed to understand what has been said
in whatever national language.
The diversity is also reflected in the political system. In Switzerland,
there are three levels of political entities: The state, 26 regions
and 2758 communes. These numbers are quite high, if you consider
the size of the country. Switzerland as a whole is much smaller
than Ethiopia. 7.5 million People live on a surface of 41000 km2.
This corresponds very roughly to the size of Tigray. However, like
Ethiopia, Switzerland is characterized over large parts by mountains
which favour small entities, be it only for the reason that it is
difficult to move from one place to another.
Federalism is a way to take this diversity into account while creating
at the same time a common identity. The system functions on the
base of the principle that decisions should be taken at the lowest
possible level. The lower the level, the closer is the relationship
between the citizen and the State. People know their representatives;
they know their civil servants, and the other way round. It is easier
to trust each other, and more difficult to abuse a position of power.
Another particularity of the Swiss system is direct democracy. On
all levels, State, region and commune, people regularly express
their views by vote.
On the national level, referenda are held three or four times a
year, the last one on 11 March this year on the system of health
insurance.
In some small regions, it still happens that once a year people
gather on the main square of the regional capital where they discuss
and decide on all matters of relevance.
Every system is the result of checks and balances. From time to
time, it is not only unavoidable, but healthy to adjust it to new
realities and to ask fundamental questions, like
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What
is the distribution of roles between State and private sector?
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What
is the distribution of roles between different levels of State entities?
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How
should different entities of the same level work together?
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How
should different levels work together?
These are only a few flashlights
on some of the most prominent features of the way people live together
in Switzerland. Each country is different, each has its own history,
its own constraints, and each has to make its own choices. All I
wanted to do is to share some experiences with you and to give you
some food for thought for the upcoming discussion.
Let me wish you a most stimulating
and fruitful workshop. |
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