SVP boss Chiesa fights against ’10 million Switzerland’: ‘More immigration means less prosperity’

Aren’t Muslims Swiss to you?
Anyone who has a Swiss passport and respects our values ​​is Swiss. Of course, this also applies to Swiss Muslims.

Field services have always been held in the military. Why should these Christian soldiers be reserved?
We have three recognized Christian National Churches in Switzerland. We reject an extension of this status to other religious communities.

Before the elections, your party is once again making immigration a problem. Do you still feel comfortable in Switzerland, Mr Chiesa?
Yes, with emphasis on: still. However, I fear that our children will enjoy less prosperity. My dad didn’t have it easy in the 60’s and 70’s. But every year it got better. Many of our benefits are now gone. Mass immigration is a problem! We used to have 35,000 cross-border commuters in Ticino, now there are 80,000. This creates huge traffic problems, it puts a strain on the environment and the labor market – wages are under enormous pressure.

You want to slow down immigration with the sustainability initiative.
The key question is: how many and what kind of people do we want in Switzerland? We don’t want ten million Switzerland. We don’t want our landscape cemented. Then there are the problems in the schools, the increasing willingness to use violence, the loss of our identity.

With your initiative you are – once again – calling into question the free movement of persons.
The initiative will take effect when Switzerland has 9.5 million inhabitants. Until then, the economy has time to adjust and become increasingly dependent on locals rather than immigrants. If the threshold is exceeded, the federal government must propose measures to curb immigration – especially in the areas of asylum and family reunification. If that does not work and the limit of 10 million is exceeded, the federal government will have to renegotiate the agreement on the free movement of persons with the EU.

Hospitals are already closing because of a shortage of nursing staff. Without free movement of persons, the deficit would be even greater.
In the last 20 years, 1.5 million people have come to Switzerland and yet we do not have enough qualified personnel. Something’s wrong. If we do not manage immigration in a way that serves our interests, we will never break out of this vicious circle. Immigration is like water: if we can use it drop by drop to water our flowers, then everything is fine. But when the water comes as a torrent, only major damage is left in the end.

We cannot sustain prosperity without immigration.
We demand quality, not quantity! If there is a shortage of skilled workers, skilled workers must come. I have no problem with that. But the fact is that we only really need a fifth of the people who come. At the same time, there are tens of thousands of unemployed people in Switzerland.

People only come if they have an employment contract.
How, then, is it possible that in a year in which an additional 80,000 people come to Switzerland, there is still a shortage of skilled workers? A third is family reunification. These people do not work, but use infrastructure and services.

Does the SVP want to ban family reunification?
It needs to be factored into the bill or it’s just not fair. These people need doctors, schools, roads, trains. I still maintain: more immigration means less prosperity. Otherwise we would not have a shortage of skilled workers.

The SVP warns of the asylum chaos – and is doing everything in its power to make it happen. There is already a lack of places for refugees. Yet you, together with Mitte and FDP, prevented the construction of asylum containers.
The European asylum system has failed. Hundreds of thousands of young men come to Europe with criminal traffickers. And now the Swiss have to pay 130 million to build shelters for refugees? No, thank you!

Europe’s problems with the distribution of refugees do not change the fact that the people are there and need housing.
We have always said that we should guard our own borders. But the population was convinced that this was not necessary: ​​the EU would protect its external borders, so Switzerland would also be protected. Now we see that this is not true.

What do you suggest?
Britain has an agreement to deport illegal asylum seekers to Rwanda. Switzerland should do the same.

Rich Switzerland must therefore buy itself free from its responsibility and deport the refugees to Africa.
On the contrary, it is irresponsible if we continue as before. We feed the criminal traffickers with this and accept the death of asylum migrants.

So far, the SVP has not cared about the fate of the refugees. They are also against more local aid.
Every year we spend three billion Swiss francs on development aid and four billion on asylum. That is more money than we spend on agriculture, namely 3.7 billion. Those are the wrong priorities. And there is asylum tourism: these people are not looking for protection, but the country with the best social services. You cross many safe countries to get to Switzerland.

In addition to migration, the SVP also makes the gender star an election campaign topic. What bothers you so much about this one character?
This gender debate is an imported problem. But the fact is: many citizens feel that they can no longer say what they think.

The SVP is the largest party in the country – its representatives have always said what they think.
There are men and women, that’s a biological fact. A micro-minority claims the opposite. Organizing a gender day on which 25 percent of the students can’t read well is the wrong priority.

Taking minorities into account is actually very Swiss.
Today the minority wants to tell the majority how to talk.

No one is ordering SVP to use the gender star.
But! In the city of Zurich, the administration introduced the gender star on official documents. I am pleased that SVP Councilor Susanne Brunner has tabled an initiative against it.

According to polls, the SVP should gain ground in the autumn elections. If so, will you remain party chairman?
It’s nice when the polls predict it that way. I enjoy the office, we have a good team. We’ll see what happens after the election.

What do you think of a Federal Council of the Greens: would the SVP choose a candidate from the Greens?
We stand behind the concordance. The four largest parties should be represented in the Federal Council according to their electoral strength. The Greens do not respect that. I don’t really see any reason to reward this contempt with a seat on the Federal Council.

Change of topic: How many times a year do you drive through the Gotthard Tunnel?
Very, very often. I am in German-speaking Switzerland or Romandy for at least 200 days a year.

A toll would cost you dearly.
I use the train But the traffic jam in front of the Gotthard tunnel is nothing new. Mitte, GLP and FDP’s initiative requires everyone to pay. The Swiss too. I tend to disagree.

Why?
The Swiss already pay the road tax, the license plate and the vignette. Germans or Dutch people who drive to the Mediterranean only need the 40 franc vignette. If you only go from Lugano to Genoa, it will cost more.

But most of the people standing in front of the Gotthard on Good Friday are Swiss.
Exactly – Swiss, who have already paid for the infrastructure. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to use the tunnel freely now?

So there are too many and the wrong people?
(laughs) Here also.

And another change of subject: the war in Ukraine continues. Nevertheless, you are against countries like Germany supplying Swiss arms to Ukraine. You are only helping the aggressor Russia.
Not at all! As a neutral country, we can offer our good offices and provide humanitarian aid. But if we allow such arms transfers, we stand up for a war party. This is incompatible with neutrality.

It’s not just about re-exporting arms. The SVP does not even want to deliver the obsolete Leo tanks to Germany.
We need these tanks in Switzerland. In fact, those circles that now absolutely want to relax the War Materials Act are the same ones that tightened it two years ago. These people are completely unbelievable.

Two years ago the world looked different.
But our values ​​remain the same.