Banquo's Ghost
03-10-2007, 11:45
Will it never end? (http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2344776.ece)
Once more, a quiet, civilised country is being over-run by loutish immigrants, who are only interested in making money so they can send it back home. It doesn't seem to matter to the residents that the immigrants are well-educated and work hard - though employers are keen to take advantage of this.
I am shocked, shocked I tell you. :furious3:
Swiss cheesed off with 'arrogant and objectionable' German invaders
By Tony Paterson in Berlin
Published: 10 March 2007
They have not yet resorted to clichés about jackbooted Teutons or started to ridicule their habit of bagging poolside sun loungers but the Swiss have let it be known that they are more than a little upset about a perceived " German invasion" of their once pristine Alpine state.
"How many Germans can Switzerland stand?" demanded the mass circulation Swiss newspaper Blick. It went on to ask its 250,000 readers whether "they too" had had "enough of cheap workers, arrogant expressions" and Germans' "objectionable self-confidence".
The answer was not long in coming. An opinion poll published by the newspaper this week claimed 43 per cent of the Swiss agreed with the notion that Germans were arrogant while 42 per cent admitted to regularly complaining about them.
"They only come here to earn big money," said one young Swiss woman interviewed by the daily. "Then they go home and live like princes - personally, my overall experience of Germans is bad," she added. Blick retorted with the front page headline: "Are the Germans taking our jobs ?"
German-bashing is Switzerland's answer to the fact that the country has suddenly become the most popular destination for Germans seeking to work abroad. Last year, a record 24,700 crossed into the Alpine nation where jobs are comparatively easy to find and wages up to three times higher than in Germany.
Germans are employed in a wide cross-section of jobs, ranging from hotel staff to doctors and management consultants. More than 170,000 Germans live in Switzerland, making them the country's fourth largest minority group. Nearly all have benefited from a relaxation of immigration rules that, five years ago, permitted freedom of movement between the EU and Switzerland.
Employers' dismiss suggestions that Germans are stealing Swiss jobs. "The good thing about Germans is that they are well qualified, they work hard and they don't have any problems with the language," said Hans Reis of the Swiss employer's association. However, such reassurances have not prevented serious Swiss newspapers and TV talk shows from addressing fears about the country being flooded by Germans. Sibylle Berg, a German writer who lives in Zurich, complained recently that the Germans wanted to turn Switzerland into "another Majorca".
She added: " I cringe more and more often whenever I hear German phrases, am served by Germans or meet them in restaurants or trams."
Jens-Rainer Wiese, a 43-year-old IT specialist who is German and has been living in Switzerland for the past six years, is perhaps better qualified than most to explain the dilemma.
"The Germans just have no idea how they are perceived by the Swiss. They are seen as aggressive, rude and boastful," he said. "The Swiss are reserved and very polite whereas the Germans are loud in public and just come out and say what they want. The mentality is very different," he added.
Once more, a quiet, civilised country is being over-run by loutish immigrants, who are only interested in making money so they can send it back home. It doesn't seem to matter to the residents that the immigrants are well-educated and work hard - though employers are keen to take advantage of this.
I am shocked, shocked I tell you. :furious3:
Swiss cheesed off with 'arrogant and objectionable' German invaders
By Tony Paterson in Berlin
Published: 10 March 2007
They have not yet resorted to clichés about jackbooted Teutons or started to ridicule their habit of bagging poolside sun loungers but the Swiss have let it be known that they are more than a little upset about a perceived " German invasion" of their once pristine Alpine state.
"How many Germans can Switzerland stand?" demanded the mass circulation Swiss newspaper Blick. It went on to ask its 250,000 readers whether "they too" had had "enough of cheap workers, arrogant expressions" and Germans' "objectionable self-confidence".
The answer was not long in coming. An opinion poll published by the newspaper this week claimed 43 per cent of the Swiss agreed with the notion that Germans were arrogant while 42 per cent admitted to regularly complaining about them.
"They only come here to earn big money," said one young Swiss woman interviewed by the daily. "Then they go home and live like princes - personally, my overall experience of Germans is bad," she added. Blick retorted with the front page headline: "Are the Germans taking our jobs ?"
German-bashing is Switzerland's answer to the fact that the country has suddenly become the most popular destination for Germans seeking to work abroad. Last year, a record 24,700 crossed into the Alpine nation where jobs are comparatively easy to find and wages up to three times higher than in Germany.
Germans are employed in a wide cross-section of jobs, ranging from hotel staff to doctors and management consultants. More than 170,000 Germans live in Switzerland, making them the country's fourth largest minority group. Nearly all have benefited from a relaxation of immigration rules that, five years ago, permitted freedom of movement between the EU and Switzerland.
Employers' dismiss suggestions that Germans are stealing Swiss jobs. "The good thing about Germans is that they are well qualified, they work hard and they don't have any problems with the language," said Hans Reis of the Swiss employer's association. However, such reassurances have not prevented serious Swiss newspapers and TV talk shows from addressing fears about the country being flooded by Germans. Sibylle Berg, a German writer who lives in Zurich, complained recently that the Germans wanted to turn Switzerland into "another Majorca".
She added: " I cringe more and more often whenever I hear German phrases, am served by Germans or meet them in restaurants or trams."
Jens-Rainer Wiese, a 43-year-old IT specialist who is German and has been living in Switzerland for the past six years, is perhaps better qualified than most to explain the dilemma.
"The Germans just have no idea how they are perceived by the Swiss. They are seen as aggressive, rude and boastful," he said. "The Swiss are reserved and very polite whereas the Germans are loud in public and just come out and say what they want. The mentality is very different," he added.