ZURICH (Reuters) — Nestled between the
peaks of the Swiss Alps, the Hotel Schweizerhof has provided rooms for
weary skiers and hikers for more than a century, profiting like scores
of other businesses from Switzerland's close ties to Europe.
But a shock vote last week to cap all immigration to the
landlocked country and introduce quotas for those from the European
Union, now threatens to cut the hotel off from the pool of workers
on which it relies.
"Switzerland is too small, we don't have enough qualified people
here — not in tourism, not in the health sector, not in other
industries," said Andreas Zuellig, manager of the hotel, which
stands in the Swiss ski resort of Lenzerheide and draws around 40
percent of its staff from the EU.
In a country that depends heavily on foreigners in all sectors of
the economy, Zuellig is not alone in worrying about the consequences
of the referendum, which the Swiss government opposed but must now
write into law within three years.
In addition to the Swiss tourism industry, the financial services
and scientific sectors, which together account for nearly a fifth of
gross domestic product (GDP), have been spooked by the vote.
Scienceindustries, the business association that groups the Swiss
pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnology companies, says nearly
one in two workers in the sector are EU citizens.
"Long term, it could mean that we invest and hire less in
Switzerland and more in our operations outside of Switzerland," said
Paul Verbraeken, a spokesman for Evolva, a maker of ingredients for
the health and cosmetics industry which employs around 50 people in
Switzerland, two-thirds of them from the EU.
Ruedi Noser, chairman and majority owner of Noser Group, a producer
of software for the telecommunications and other industries, echoed
that view, saying his company was likely to step up its foreign
expansion in the wake of the vote.
"It was already clear that we had to expand abroad before, but the
vote certainly underscores the importance of doing so for our
company," said Noser, who employs 420 people in Switzerland, 70 in
Germany, ten in North America and around seven in Asia.
Analysts at Credit Suisse estimate that the Swiss economy as a whole
could generate 80,000 fewer jobs over the next three years as a
result of the referendum.
FUNDING FEARS
Immigrants have helped drive the Swiss success story, including
Swatch founder Nicolas Hayek who was born in Lebanon, and
German-born Henri Nestle, who founded the world's largest food and
beverage company.
At bio-tech start-up InSphero, a producer of 3D cell structures used
to test drugs in pre-clinical trials, around 80 percent of the
people applying for current vacancies are non-Swiss, its German
founder and CEO Jan Lichtenberg said.
Lichtenberg is not only worried the extra red tape from quotas will
make it harder to hire top talent, but also concerned about
counter-measures from the EU throwing up another unwelcome hurdle
for exporters.
"If you take everything together, such as the strong Swiss franc and
then the additional export and import costs, it's not helping
Switzerland as a competitive economy," said Lichtenberg, whose firm
makes around 50 percent of its revenues in Europe.
He is also concerned that the company, which gets around 1 million
francs in funding from the EU, may be excluded from future funding
rounds, if Switzerland's bilateral agreements with the 28-member
bloc unravel.
On Sunday, the European Commission announced it was postponing
negotiations with Switzerland on its participation in multi-billion
dollar research and educational schemes, which allocate grants to
fund science projects in areas such as information technology,
health and nanosciences.
"Everything that's not going to market in the next 12-18 months is
currently research that's funded by European projects. If we were
cut out of that it would mean that we would have to look for money
from other sources," he said.
Still, some Swiss firms see a silver lining in the vote.
Annette Heimlicher, chief executive of Contrinex, a maker of sensors
for factory automation, says the current system makes it difficult
to employ non-EU specialists, a problem because it sells a large
amount of goods to Asia.
"If we focus on Europe and hiring Europeans, we won't be competitive
in Asia in years to come," said Heimlicher, whose company employs
more than 500 people, including specialist engineers and product
managers from Asia.
She hopes the referendum can lead to a more efficient system which
boosts recruitment of people from outside the EU.
(Additional reporting by Katharina Bart and Silke Koltrowitz;
editing by Anna Willard)
