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Michael Ambühl (72) negotiated the bilateral contracts with the EU for Switzerland. Now the former top diplomat is mediating in Davos GR. Davos Tourism has appointed Ambühl to head a task force to find a solution to recurring conflicts between locals and Jewish Orthodox tourists. This is reported by Radio SRF.
Recently, a message from the Pischa mountain railway caused a storm of outrage. It said in Hebrew that Jews could no longer lend out sleds and other snow sports equipment because some Orthodox Jews had apparently stolen sleds.
Ambühl has already had discussions
The task force was established last fall. “We wanted someone with experience who could deal with such a conflict,” says tourism director Reto Branschi (64) about the efforts of the former chief negotiator. The subject is important and that is why they have brought in “one of the best in his field”.
After his diplomatic career with the federal government, Ambühl taught negotiation and conflict management at the University of Zurich. He currently does not want to provide any information about his mandate.
In addition to Ambühl and Branschi, the members of the task force include the mayor of Davos, Philipp Wilhelm (35) and two representatives of Jewish organizations. The backdrop to the launch was Davos’ withdrawal from the Likrat Public dialogue project, as Branschi told Blick. From the perspective of the tourism organization, this did not yield the desired success. The unilateral termination caused great irritation among the Swiss Association of Israelite Communities (SIG). «Our assessment was fundamentally different. From our experiences, reports and feedback, we know that the project is having an impact,” says SIG Secretary General Jonathan Kreutner (45).
Proposed solutions should be on the table soon
As for the work of the task force, Director of Tourism Branschi says that in recent months he and former chief negotiator Ambühl have sought discussions with local people, such as farmers, people from the hospitality or retail sectors, as a first step. . In a second step, Ambühl sat down with Jewish stakeholders. They first wanted to know exactly what the problems were, so that they could now find solutions together.
The original plan was for the proposed solutions to be on the table in March. According to Branschi, this could now be postponed somewhat. The reason for this was the war in the Middle East, which understandably delayed the scheduling of appointments with the Jewish representatives.
This approach leads to dissatisfaction
SIG Secretary General Kreutner, on the other hand, said when asked that the last meeting was in September and had been planned well in advance. Ambühl was there as a mediator. Kreutner’s comments clearly show the dissatisfaction with the tourism organization’s actions. The SIG cannot understand why the dialogue project, which has been running for several years, was canceled and Ambühl was hired as a mediator instead.
“The latest case shows that something is clearly wrong in Davos,” Kreutner said. Similar problems are not known from other holiday regions – “especially not in those regions where our dialogue program is still active”. It is noted that Davos Tourism “wants to take a new path,” according to Kreutner. “But we don’t yet know what it looks like and where it leads.” (lha)
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
