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The bourgeois parties have resisted the harsh measures of the crown. Until now. Now the WEF is moving abroad due to the number of infections, and the Federal Council is needed.
Central Swiss economic politicians deliver an open letter to Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin in the lobby (from right): Guy Parmelin, Petra Gössi, Franz Grüter, Josef Dittli, Hans Wicki, Matthias Michel.
Photo: PD
In an open letter to Economy Minister Guy Parmelin, the Central Swiss National and State Councils sound the alarm: the Federal Council must work to ensure that the WEF takes place in Bürgenstock in May 2021, as originally planned. . Due to the rampant corona epidemic in Switzerland, the global business elite rendezvous threatens to move to Singapore, as CH Media made public on Monday.
Hundreds of jobs and the long-term implementation of the WEF are at stake, argue the middle-class federal MPs in their letter, which they personally presented to the economy minister on Wednesday afternoon.
“It is incomprehensible to turn your back on Switzerland now”
“Thanks to the willingness of official Switzerland to cooperate, the WEF was only able to become what it is today: a global entity”, says the letter that the president of the FDP, Petra Gössi, and the SVP national councilor of Lucerne, Franz Grüter , They have launched. “Turning our backs on Switzerland now, even though a functional protection concept would apply and consequently the protection of WEF participants would be guaranteed, is incomprehensible from our point of view.”
However, it is equally incomprehensible to foreign business and political leaders that the WEF should take place in a country where the coronavirus is extremely widespread: in the second wave, Switzerland has the second highest infection rate in Europe, and the softer measures against him.
The bourgeois parties SVP and FDP, as well as business associations, were particularly strong against tougher interventions. Economists from the federal scientific working group, on the other hand, always warned that effective control of the pandemic was important to the economy.
“The WEF has great concerns about the Corona situation in Switzerland,” says Franz Grüter, who spoke with WEF founder Klaus Schwab by phone. Many participants only wanted to travel to a country if the pandemic was more or less under control there. “The WEF itself underestimated how important the local infection rate is for the participants and how exactly they pay attention to how Switzerland behaves,” says Grüter.
A WEF measure would have far-reaching consequences for Central Switzerland, Grüter says: 4,000 WWII soldiers had postponed their appointments because of this, the cantons had designed security concepts for hotels and tourism, and the region’s hotels finally they were booked again.
“A catastrophe” for the image of Switzerland
The signal would be problematic for the entire country. “A rejection would subliminally convey the message that Switzerland is not safe,” says Grüter. “That’s not good for the location.” For the leader of the FDP, Petra Gössi, it is crucial how Klaus Schwab would justify a postponement of the WEF. “If it raises doubts about the security of Switzerland, it would be a catastrophe for the international image of our country,” says Gössi.
The WEF’s decision should be made next Monday. It’s a difficult time for Switzerland: it was criticized all week for wanting to keep its ski areas open despite the corona pandemic; in the eyes of neighboring governments, a sign that Switzerland is unwilling to infect the virus. have a control overread here how neighboring countries react).
Gössi too happens on wednesday afternoon at a press conference in which bourgeois politicians from the FDP, SVP and CVP argue against new restrictions on tourism. “Until now, Switzerland has not suffered, the negative image of some media reports can quickly break down again,” says Gössi. “It is part of the game that neighboring countries put pressure on Switzerland.” Now it is important to move quickly with vaccines, says the leader of the FDP. “People will work until Christmas. If there was another big wave later, it would actually be difficult. “
In Singapore, plexiglass walls separate restaurant diners at the same table. The city-state has taken stricter measures against the Covid pandemic than Switzerland, now the WEF wants to hold its annual meeting there.
Photo: Edgar Su (Reuters)
SVP National Councilor Franz Grüter speaks of a balancing act. “We want to avoid further restrictions on economic life as much as possible, but we also need effective protection measures.” Countries that would have defeated the pandemic very quickly and efficiently “have taken very tough and very consistent action. This is easier to do in dictatorships. With us, however, compromises are necessary. “
Now bourgeois politicians hope that a postponement of the WEF from May 2021 to Singapore will be at least a single defeat. “They assured me that the WEF would return to Switzerland the following year,” says Grüter.
