Hot Swiss SVP MP: "The Germans take ouuuurrr jobs !"

[ZuWo]

Isn't Rickli ZuWo's MP ?

One of 34 MPs; 11 are SVP members, 7 belong to the SPS, 4 to the FDP/Liberals, 4 to the GLP, 3 are members of the Greens, 2 of the BDP, 2 of the CVP and 1 of the EVP, to be precise.

[ZuWo]

Such skepticism towards German immigration as uttered by National Councillor Rickli is mostly a phenomenon that occurs in and around the city of Zurich. In the recent years, the number of Germans in Zurich has nearly tripled - Germans now account for 8% of the population of the city of Zurich. While immigration from Germany can primarily be considered positive since the Germans who come to Zurich tend to be well-educated, work in sectors where there aren't enough Swiss employees and are eager to adapt to the Swiss way of life, there are also some downsides to this development.
Firstly, there are a couple of "hard" facts which are responsible for the feelings towards German immigration Mrs Rickli expressed. Indeed, the considerable increase in the city's population has, for instance, led to higher rents, crammed trains and crowded lecture halls at the university. These are the most tangible effects of immigration to Zurich, and since the Germans are the largest group of immigrants and their number has increased so rapidly in the last 10 years the role they play is subject to numerous public debates.
Additionally, there are very subjective - or "soft" - reasons for skepticism towards Germans. Despite the many similarities between the German-speaking Swiss and the Germans, there are Swiss people who think Germans are too bold, too direct and rude, which can be exemplified by the following stereotypical situation:

A German client enters a Swiss bakery and addresses the sales assistant by saying "Ich krieg ein Brötchen!" ("I'll get a bread roll!") instead of saying or asking "Ich hätte gern ein Brötchen" ("I'd like to have a bread roll") or "Könnte ich bitte ein Brötchen haben?" ("Could I have a bread roll, please?"). I actually don't know how frequent such a situation is, but it shows that the are very delicate cultural traps and different conversational conventions which can be a potential field of conflict. Of course, both the Germans and the Swiss have to be ready to understand these differences in order to avoid any discord in the future.

[ZuWo]

Why exactly is there a particular focus on German immigrants anyway ?

There are now 290.000 Germans in Switzerland, which is far less than for example in 1910 when 220.000 Germans lived in Switzerland out of a total population of 3.7 Mio. and they account for only 4% of the population.

But there are also 300.000 Italians and 250.000 Portuguese living in Switzerland, are they taking the jobs of the Swiss too ? You don't hear any complaints from the SVP people about the Italians and the Portuguese about that.

As I said, skepticism towards German immigrants is mainly a phenomenon of the German-speaking urban centers (mostly in and around Zurich) because most Germans who have immigrated to Switzerland in the recent years live in and around Zurich.

And the reason why no one talks about the Italians and the Portuguese who live in Switzerland is the fact that the overwhelming number of Italians and Portuguese who live in Switzerland came here many decades ago. Switzerland had its debate on immigration from Italy, Spain and Portugal a long time ago - most Italians who live here today are Italians of the 3rd or even 4th generation and many of them are hardly distinguishable from Swiss people.

Also, the jobs most Italian and Portuguese immigrants used to have jobs of a lower social status that the Swiss didn't really want to do, while in the eyes of some Swiss people the Germans are competitors for the "good" jobs and, therefore, rivals.  

[ZuWo]

A German client enters a Swiss bakery and addresses the sales assistant by saying "Ich krieg ein Brötchen!" ("I'll get a bread roll!") instead of saying or asking "Ich hätte gern ein Brötchen" ("I'd like to have a bread roll") or "Könnte ich bitte ein Brötchen haben?" ("Could I have a bread roll, please?").

Lol, this is genius! How tremendously unoriginal the International Nationalistic Right can sometimes be. Great to meet the distant relative of the proverbial francophone refusing to speak dutch in a bakery in Ostend.

Well, this example hasn't been brought up by any rightist politician, and I don't even know whether such a dialogue is even realistic at all. It is just an anecdotal example that is sometimes mentioned in newspaper articles that deal with the alleged differences between the Germans and the Swiss. It simply shows how quickly, due to slight differences in language use, a misunderstanding can occur, which then reinforces the stereotypical image of the bossy Germans in contrast to the reserved Swiss.