Spuhler about Chinese investors at Stadler Rail: “No chance” A quarter of employees in Switzerland work for multinationals

For Stadler Rail boss Peter Spuhler, new problems for the export economy are a matter of time. Orders in the machine, electrical and metal industries fell by 21 percent in the third quarter. “So it’s breaking through again,” he told the “SonntagsZeitung”.

There is currently a “toxic mix” of supply bottlenecks, price increases, a shortage of skilled labor and tensions between the US and Russia and China. “Since 2010, we have practically always been in crisis mode,” says Spuhler.

The former SVP national councilor of Thurgau also commented on China’s increased attempt to exert influence in Europe. “I think it’s important that we, as Europeans, believe in ourselves and defend our technology and systemic infrastructure and not just hand it over to Chinese hands.” He therefore describes a Chinese entry into his company as hopeless: “They just have to try – no chance. We have never lost to the Chinese in tenders.”

Spuhler also comments on the Stadler factory still in operation in Belarus. Originally, his company would have employed more than 1,500 people there. “Because of the sanctions, we have scaled down enormously,” says Spuhler. The Stadler factory in Belarus is currently running at the lowest possible level: “We have distributed several hundred employees among the other factories in the US, Poland, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. We have moved orders from Belarus to Poland and sometimes also to Switzerland.”

There has been no contact with ruler Lukashenko since his visit to the factory opening. Remarkable: According to Spuhler, it is striking that the Belarusian population is clearly on the side of Ukraine in the war. “Our employees come to work with the Ukrainian flag,” says Spuhler.

Belarusian ruler Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the beginning of the war, Russian soldiers also attacked Ukraine from Belarusian territory. (con/sda)