You don't put a Confederation under trusteeship with tanks. You do it with “details”, “technical agreements”, indissociable packages, words that put people to sleep - and an apple that tastes of pragmatism. While the mirror repeats “nothing changes”, the essential changes: neutrality eroded, sovereignty cut up, the Sovereign informed after the event. This is the allegory of Snow White and the seven dwarfs - not to entertain, but to name the poisons and remind us who decides in Switzerland.
Once upon a time there was a very special Snow White: prosperous without arrogance, free without naivety, respected because she never let herself be dominated or enslaved.
This Snow White was called Switzerland.
Around her gravitated seven dwarfs, with a simple, almost sacred mission: keep the house, protecting the heritage, respecting the rules enshrined in the Constitution and to serve the Sovereign.
Then something changed.
Not a major coup.
A slip.
A habit.
Normalisation“.
And every evening, a mirror repeated the same sentence: “Everything is fine. Nothing changes. Keep moving.”
The seven dwarfs and the apple of submission
The apple doesn't taste like scandal. It tastes technical.
It comes in thin slices: mechanism, process, package, adaptation, necessity.
It silently puts you to sleep.
Nain n°1 - Le Pressé
He confuses speed with strategy. He signs before explaining, promises before defining.
He commits Switzerland to “evolutionary” mechanisms, only to discover too late that evolution is becoming a more complex process. constraint.
Nain n°2 - The Communicator
He no longer governs: he prepares opinion.
He talks of ’technical agreements“, ”continuity“ and ”nothing changes“.
In reality, the essentials are changing - but the vocabulary is anaesthetising.
Nain n°3 - The creative lawyer
It does not break the Constitution: it goes around it.
Complexity makes referendum unlikely.
Indivisible packages to prevent choice.
Procedures that give the illusion of control - and take away real power.
And yet, the principle is clear: certain major decisions require the people and the cantons (double majority).
Dwarf n°4 - The Leverage-Free Negotiator
He goes abroad with no clear doctrine, no red lines, no long-term strategy.
Switzerland is no longer a player: it is becoming a case to deal with.
Dwarf n°5 - The shameful Neutralist
He refers to neutrality as an embarrassing legacy.
Pragmatic“ cooperation, ”temporary“ alignments, ”obvious“ sanctions.
With so many exceptions, there is no principle left: there's only one reflex left.
Dwarf n°6 - The Technocrat
It delegates living power to autonomous administrative apparatuses: standards, circulars, extensive interpretations.
FINMA, for example, can issue ordinances when authorised to do so by the legislator, and its circulars establish uniform practice by giving concrete form to open standards.
The political result is simple: the Confederation slides from democracy to governance - by gradually moving away from popular control.
Nain n°7 - The Contribution Accountant
He describes external payments as “the price of access”, “the key to stability”.
But budgetary dependence, when it becomes a regular occurrence, is no longer a gesture: it is a mechanism.
The Confederation is recalling a contribution of 1.102 billion for the second Swiss contribution (2019-2029).
And the order of magnitude 350 million/year appears in discussions linked to future cycles.
The problem isn't just the sum: it's the idea that there's no such thing as the sum. no credible political ceiling tomorrow.
When the guards stop guarding
The tragedy is not the mistake.
The tragedy is the convergence.
These seven dwarfs, united in the Federal Council, no longer act as representatives of the people, but as managers of external acceptability.
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Neutrality eroded without debate commensurate with the stakes.
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Foreign policy without a stable doctrine, blown by the wind.
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Sovereignty transferred in “technical” fragments.
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Sovereign informed after the fact, asked to approve after sleeping.
As Rousseau (The social contract, Book III, ch. 15), sovereignty cannot be represented:
«Deputies are only commissioners and cannot come to any final conclusions on behalf of the people.»
Snow White can still wake up
In the fairytale, Snow White does not die.
She wakes up when the poison is expelled.
Switzerland is not doomed. But it must regain control:
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remind the people command,
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that the Constitution is a compass, not a set,
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that neutrality is a strategy, not a relic,
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and that dwarfs are not kings.
Conclusion - It's not too late, but it's long past time
A Confederation does not disappear through conquest.
It disappears by successive renunciations - disguised as pragmatism, sold as details, swallowed like apples.
Snow White is still asleep.
But the Sovereign can awaken it - as long as he names the poisons, points the finger of blame, and reminds us of a simple truth:
⮕ In Switzerland, it's not the dwarfs who decide the country's destiny.
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