Immigration in Switzerland is always a contentious issue and the outgoing EU Ambassador to Bern, says if the Swiss want to have a growing economy then they have to accept free movement of workers.
Petros Mavromichalis, the outgoing EU Ambassador to Bern, has a novel idea on how to drastically curb the influx of foreigners coming to Switzerland.
“Immigration is not the result of free movement, but of economic growth. If the economy needs workers, it will find them,” Mavromichalis told Tribune de Genève in an interview published on August 27th.
“The only way to reduce immigration is to relocate [Swiss] companies to the United States, as the American president wants. You will no longer need foreign workers in Switzerland,” he said.
If actually implemented, this radical idea would certainly empty Switzerland of the vast majority of foreign workers, but also destroy Switzerland’s economy in the process.
That’s because, although the country would perhaps no longer be subject to Trump’s 39-percent trade tariffs (as all manufacturing activity would move to the US), it would cause massive unemployment and, with it, empty state coffers of the significant amount of tax money, and the social security of contributions – a truly catastrophic scenario.
The envoy compared the ‘overcrowding’ that some complain of in Switzerland with regards to immigration to the situation on islands of his native Greece.
“I always see more tourists. I have to make reservations in restaurants. I can’t always find a free umbrella on the beach. It’s unpleasant. But it’s not the tourists’ fault. Greece lives off tourism. If you build hotels, tourists come. It’s the same in Switzerland. You have companies that create jobs. You need people to fill those jobs.”
In essence, Mavromichalis is suggesting that, just like Greece creates favourable conditions for mass tourism, so does Switzerland create an appealing environment – such as free access to the labour market – for the immigrants from the European Union and EFTA nations – Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.
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There has not, so far, been any official reaction to Mavromichalis’ remarks, but it is more than likely that the government will reject these comments as unrealistic and discriminatory.
While some Swiss companies, like Roche and Novartis for example, will move some of its production to the US, many others will stay put in Switzerland.
And aside from practical reasons, such as foreign workforce helping to fill shortages in the Swiss labour market, Switzerland is bound to the free movement of people principle by accords with Brussels.
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Mavromichalis’ ideas are more than likely to strike a chord with the right-wing Swiss People’s Party SVP.
They have been campaigning for years to curb immigration from the EU, arguing that foreigners are taking jobs away from the Swiss – a claim that has been repeatedly negated by economists.
READ ALSO: Do Switzerland’s foreign workers really ‘steal’ Swiss jobs?
A new attempt to cut the number of immigrants is the SVP’s latest initiative called ‘No to Switzerland of 10 million people.”
It calls for the Federal Council and parliament to stop the influx of foreigners when the permanent resident population exceeds 9.5 million (it currently exceeds 9 million).
The party justifies this proposal with an argument (actually supported by demographic forecasts) that such a sharp population growth in a small country like Switzerland will strain the country’s infrastructure, including housing, health system, public transportation, and schools
The SVP has collected the required number of signatures to launch a nationwide referendum on this issue, but the date for the vote has not yet been set.
READ ALSO: What Switzerland’s new vote to limit immigration could mean