For decades, workers from Baden-Württemberg and Alsace commute daily to Switzerland, everyone benefits. And now? Following the referendum against mass immigration, many commuters are thoughtfully.

A Commentary on the referendum ? ” I will not comment ,” said a German woman who works in Switzerland for several years. Otherwise they correspond only to the image that had many confederates of their compatriots : cocky and self-important .

Such voices can be heard frequently , if you ask around in the tri-border region under German and French commuters . The region is at the heart of Europe, every day thousands commute quite naturally over the German or French border to work in Switzerland. But since Sunday have voted 50.3 per cent of the Swiss ” against mass immigration ,” wants you prefer to not burn your fingers .

A university professor from the Alsace Mulhouse told his entire family have worked in the neighboring country . ” In her old age my mother now brings their money back from Switzerland . ” It lies there, quite legally , and be ” taxed , of course .” But now go under many commuters a diffuse anxiety about , even if in everyday life objectively little should change : ” The cultural differences that we have mined here for years , could re- break after the referendum . ”

The master’s student Charlotte Chauffaille, 22, has no problem to comment on the situation – her first fall also only benefits that brings life in the triangle, the many museums, concerts, festivals, hiking trails and ski slopes in the region. Chauffaille has the tri Bachelor’s study program “International Business Management” graduated and spent this semester in France Colmar, in the German Lörrach and Basel. The mood among the students was good. But: “There was also intercultural problems.”

Swiss French regarded as “very hardworking, always on time and a bit closed” while the Swiss rather the image of a “scattered, immature” French had in mind. In college, it was made ​​more tangible reasons not always easy: “The Swiss have often spoken to each other Swiss German, but French and German only understand standard German.”

After Switzerland Referandum:”We all know that the working conditions are good”

After her studies to Chauffaille can imagine to work in Switzerland – national referendum or not. “We all know that the wages and working conditions are very good there,” says the 22-year-old. “I live next to Switzerland and think it would be a shame not to enjoy it.” A bit of concern still resonates with: “Because of the quotas, it is now more difficult case open borders are especially in times of globalization important to enrich other cultures..”

Henning Short, 54, commutes, contrary to the typical direction. He leads the folk high school in the small German town Grenzach-Wyhlen. For twelve years he has lived in Basel, is married to a Swiss. “I know both perspectives,” says Short, who has now also features a Swiss passport. Often there are misconceptions: “Switzerland is just not the folkloric version of Germany.”

After Switzerland Referandum:The Swiss friends are just as appalled by the vote

His Swiss friends were as horrified as abroad over the vote, reported briefly. Frontier workers often did not feel welcome because they “work and pay taxes, but then to go fast again.” Nevertheless, he finds it unfair to put the entire country in the pillory – only because of the scarce output of the vote. “There are basically two Schweizen with very large differences in mentality. In the cities they are much more open than in the countryside.”

On a crowded commuter train from Basel to Zurich Olivia sits Dilger , 32, every day. But on border traffic they will no longer participate , the German lives in Basel and works as a lounge manager at Swiss International Air Lines , a subsidiary of Lufthansa . ” The boot is fully – slogans were in a company like ours out of place ” , something you is not yet come . And yet : the more right-wing conservative SVP scores in the nation , the more uncomfortable the young German feels : ” Suddenly you as a second class citizen comes forward. ” On the tolerance of the Basel nothing but have changed.

Her husband Helge Dilger , 32, comes from the southern Baden Freiburg, has been working for five years in Basel and describes himself as a ” child of the border triangle ” . In his Basel Werbeagentur three of his 20 colleagues come from the Federal Republic . For him, the referendum was a “slap in the face,” he says . ” For five seconds I was wondering if I should pack my things . ” Many had not realized how much the Swiss economy depended on foreign workers : “If all the foreigners would stop work for 30 minutes to break loose here all together. ”

That Dilger so could well be right, shows the example of the pharmaceutical company Novartis. The company employs in Switzerland claims to 15,177 employees – two thirds of them from abroad. Of them, the Germans are the largest group (24 percent), closely followed by French (19 percent). In Pascal cautery, head of Novartis Switzerland, since the referendum alarm bells: “We will work for a generous interpretation to limit the damage to the business location Switzerland.”

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