According to the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA), this location External linkin the centre of the Alpine nation symbolises the bond between the community of Swiss emigrants and their homeland.
The first Congress of the Swiss Abroad was held in Basel in 1918. Since the annual event was canceled during the Second World War and more recently during the coronavirus pandemic, the 100th edition was only held in 2024. Swiss emigrants at the congress celebrated the anniversary with a boat trip from Lucerne to Brunnen and a ceremony on the Swiss Abroad Square.
More
More
After 100 years, the Swiss Abroad Congress remains politically significant
This content was published on
While the Congress has evolved over the years, its core mission remains the same: to unite the Swiss Abroad and raise awareness of their specific needs.
The OSA used the anniversary to highlight the shifts in patterns of emigration from Switzerland since 1918. Whereas 100 years ago, Swiss nationals tended to emigrate definitively, people today often only move abroad for a few years for professional reasons.
The trip to Brunnen marked the end of the congress, which began on Thursday at the KKL centre in Lucerne. The topics discussed at plenary sessions on Thursday and Friday were the free movement of persons agreement with the EU and the people’s initiative “200 francs is enough!”, which aims to significantly reduce the amount of the media licence fee in Switzerland. Delegates at the congress declared themselves against the initiative.
Translated from German by DeepL/dos
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Swiss parliament calls for deeper EU security cooperation
This content was published on
The House of Representatives has called on the Swiss government to take a more proactive approach to European security policy.
Switzerland has no US-style fentanyl problem, says health minister
This content was published on
There is very little chance of a US-sized fentanyl epidemic in Switzerland, says health minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider.
This content was published on
Two fish species recently discovered in Switzerland have been called fluvicola and ommata, following an appeal to the public for names.
Convicted ex-shipowner achieves partial success in Swiss court
This content was published on
The Federal Supreme Court orders lower court to reassess part of its verdict against former Swiss shipowner Hans-Jürg Grunder.
This content was published on
A Swiss moratorium on the genetic engineering of plants, which expires at the end of 2025, could be extended for five years.
SWISS airline achieves second-best profit in history
This content was published on
Revenues soared for Swiss International Air Lines in 2024, contributing to the second-largest profit in the company's history.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.