Federal Drum and Fife Festival

In Bulle, Alain Berset speaks at the Federal Drum and Fife Festival, a festive competition held only every four years. Before him: the President of the National Council, the Fribourg government, the Bulle authorities and the clubs from all over Switzerland, up since four in the morning.

He starts from a remark attributed to Jean-Pascal Delamuraz: “The Swiss get up early, but wake up late.” The festival, he says, unites what is usually kept apart: competition and friendship, perfection and exuberance. Swiss democracy, too, lives from disputes, sometimes fierce, then from common ground. An allusion to the failure of the pension reform in September 2017: “if you want to know how to get back up after a defeat: I have been a specialist in the matter since last autumn.” And this image: “Our democracy is strong and self-confident – like the drums. And it needs endurance and breath – like the fifes.”

Speeches on this site

• Fête fédérale des tambours et fifres à Bulle (French-language page)