Second Swiss holiday comes with CHF293m price tag

Every year on August 1, Swiss people celebrate the founding of their nation instead of going to the office. © Keystone/ Valentin Flauraud

A second national holiday to mark the birth of modern federal Switzerland would cost CHF293 million ($329 million) in lost productivity every year, says the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco).

“Using data from 1980 up to 2021, it can be estimated that an additional holiday would reduce real GDP for a year by 0.04%,” Seco told Swiss public broadcaster SRF.

+ How accurate is Switzerland’s founding story?

Parliament is debating a second national holiday to mark the birth of the modern democratic Switzerland on September 12, 1848.

The House of Representatives has voted in favour of the motion. The proposal will become reality if the Senate follows suit.

Since 1993, Switzerland has celebrated the birth of the nation with a holiday on August 1. This date marks the signing of the signing of a pact between three founding cantons in 1291.

When was Switzerland born?

However, some historians believe this date is a myth, based loosely on known facts but manufactured in a convenient narrative to unite the Swiss people with a common identity.

The events of September 12, 1848, have firmer foundations in recorded history. This is the moment that cantons signed a charter recognising the modern political structure of Switzerland that defined the distribution of powers between the federal and cantonal authorities.

“The federal state of Switzerland was born on September 12, 1848,” Eva Maria Belser, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law at the University of Fribourg, told SRF.

“Before that, Switzerland was a very complex, chaotic network of treaties and alliances. Something fundamental happened for Switzerland on September 12 [1848].”

The House of Representatives agrees with the significance of September 12 in Swiss history – to the point it wants to add it as a national holiday.

“In the midst of monarchies and times of hierarchical social orders, our ancestors created a jewel,” said motion proposer Heinz Siegenthaler, of the Centre Party, during the debate.