Es gilt das gesprochene Wort!
Right Honourable Speaker, Mr Subash Chandra Nemwang,
Honourable Members of the Constituent Assembly,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a distinguished pleasure and honour for me to be invited to Nepal and to have this opportunity to meet with you. My visit should be seen as an expression of the deep friendship between our countries and its people. We believe that there is a special connection between Nepal and Switzerland – a relationship which I recognise personally. This connection has been built through 50 years of cooperation between Nepal and Switzerland, both at the level of successive governments and at the level of individuals.
In the preamble of your Interim Constitution you now declare Nepal to be a "Federal, Democratic and Republican State". These are values, which we also share. Switzerland is proud of the federalism and the democracy that it has developed over the years. We are also convinced republicans. Historically, this value comes from our attempts to distinguish ourselves from our powerful neighbours. It became a central element of our egalitarian tradition.
We Swiss identify with and appreciate Nepal as a country. Both countries have their special beauty, which I believe is made up of the diversity in landscape, in flora and fauna, and particularly the diversity of people that inhabit our countries. Countries with a diverse population are not always easy to govern. The challenge for you and for us will always be to make use of this human diversity to create unity and strength, by making sure that those who do not have the loudest voice or the most power are included in a meaningful way in the political and economic process of our respective countries.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Nepal is currently at a turning point in its history, and your role and responsibility, dear members of the Constituent Assembly, is all the more important for it. The people of Nepal have managed to end a bloody conflict, to peacefully establish a Republic and now you are in the process of drafting a new constitution.
You have opted to use a participatory approach in drafting this new constitution, providing the opportunity to many to express their opinions and to participate in this way in designing and crafting the highest law of the land. I have noted that your own process has not been progressing at the speed which you expected.
Constitution-writing can be a long and sometimes frustrating process. My country has experienced this in its recent history. Our current constitution dates back to 1999 (only eleven years ago) and we needed several attempts until we managed to draft a text that could muster the necessary majorities in parliament and in a popular referendum. Our process took a long time, even though we were only aiming to make relatively small changes. The process of adapting a constitution to the changed reality and aspirations of a country’s people is necessary to re-define and confirm what unites a nation. This is never an easy task, but always a very worthwhile process.
So in all modesty allow me to encourage you, ladies and gentlemen, to persevere in your drafting exercise. Stay the course. The people of Nepal have given you a formidable mandate and responsibility, and expect you, under the strong leadership of Speaker Subash Chandra Nemwang, to overcome the many challenges and to achieve the excellent outcome which your country and its people deserve.
As a citizen of a federal country, I am of course interested in your federal debate. I grew up with a federal system. I am an elected member of a federal institution, the Swiss federal parliament. My political career is relatively typical for a career in a federal country: It started at the local level. I started as a member of parliament of a municipality. Four years later, I was elected into the cantonal parliament - the parliament of our federal units. Finally, I ran for federal parliament and became the youngest parliamentarian in the Swiss National Council - our lower chamber of parliament. This year I have the function of being the Speaker - or as we call it – the President or Chair of the National Council. Every year, my countries parliamentarians elect new presidents to both Chambers of the Federal Assembly.
As I said, the National Council is one of the two chambers of our parliament. It is the bigger chamber with 200 members. This chamber is meant to be representative of the whole country and we are elected based on a proportional system. It is an open list system and citizens can express preferences regarding who on the list shall be elected. Voters can add or delete a name from a list.
Generally, our National Council can not pass a decision alone. For any law to come into force, the National Council – the body I preside over - has to pass it. Thereafter, the law must also be passed by the Council of States. This is the second chamber of our parliament in which the different cantons are represented, each with two seats. Both chambers have equal powers. If we cannot agree, the law goes back and forth between the two chambers, and if necessary we establish a joint commission to come to an agreement. Decision-making is slow and sometimes difficult, but the purpose of this system is to ensure that the interests of Switzerland as a whole, as well as the interests of the cantons are taken into account, bearing in mind that in order to be successful compromises will have to be found.
I note that in establishing your Constituent Assembly, you have made a special effort to increase representation of women and of groups which had been to that point marginalised from the political process. Even today, the representation of women in Nepal’s Constituent Assembly is higher than in our Swiss Federal Parliament. We do not have any reserved seats. However, currently the Speakers of both chambers of parliament are women. In addition, a majority of our members of government are women and the president of Switzerland is a woman too. This means that this year, the highest positions in our country are all occupied by women. But since the positions for President of Switzerland and of the two chambers of parliament change every year, next year the situation will be different again. Our system is not perfect but it is evolving and equality is improving.
I do not want to suggest that you copy the Swiss model, not at all. Part of the Swiss success was that we took some aspects of the system of other countries but we gave them our own interpretation and we dared to develop our own visions, institutions and procedures in line with what we wanted and needed. I can only encourage you to take the same liberty: I encourage you to seek inspiration from systems of other countries, but then go ahead and develop your own Nepali model of state organisation – a system that will meet best your needs and aspirations.
Ladies and Gentlemen, although parliamentarians are always fascinated by the functioning of democracy, we know that we will be held accountable for the outcomes we deliver during our tenure. Our constituencies have elected us into office because they feel that we can represent their needs and priorities better than a government. They have elected us because they expect us to implement their vision of society, defend their interests, and make our respective countries more fair and equitable. That is our core business. That is why we take time to study issues, prepare positions and participate actively in the debates and decision processes. It is our role, on behalf of our people to hold our respective governments accountable, to implement development plans, promote investments, deliver social services, and to fight corruption and uphold human rights. At the same time, we know that our respective positions in these august assemblies is deserved only for as long as we give highest priority to this mandate given to us by our electors.
In the case of Switzerland, the parliament has instructed the government in a spirit of solidarity, to continue to provide funding for development cooperation to other countries around the world – including Nepal. Tomorrow, I will travel to a few remote districts to see for myself how this cooperation is progressing. It gives me pleasure to assure you, Right Honourable Speaker, Honourable Members of the Constituent Assembly, of Switzerland’s steadfast friendship and support.
Thank you for your attention.