National Day: President says Swiss Abroad needed now ‘more than ever’

“Switzerland needs you [...] now more than ever,” says Ignazio Cassis, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, in his August 1 message to Swiss citizens living abroad.

Swiss emigrants and their families “build bridges and forge new paths”, Cassis added in the annual speech to the Swiss Abroad, thanking them for their role as ambassadors of their native country. “The ability to compromise, the power to innovate and our diversity – these are our strengths. Many of you abroad embody these qualities.”

Cassis’s remarks to the more than 800,000 Swiss settled abroad come ahead of the Alpine country’s national day, celebrated on August 1.

The world is going through difficult times, he said, noting that the pandemic had upended many people’s lives.

Cassis, also Swiss foreign minister, evoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “War and tanks have reappeared in Europe,” he said. “We thought those days were over, but we were wrong.” This is why we need to find solutions together, he said, just as solutions are needed for climate change, “which threatens our existence”.