"Canton is exemplary in its dynamism," says federal councillor Guy Parmelin

Last week Guy Parmelin (in the centre in the photograph), the federal councillor who heads the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, was invited by two senior fellow SVP party members, Thomas Aeschi (on the left), who represents Zug in the National Assembly in Bern, and Heinz Tännler (on the right), the cantonal director of finance, to address local representatives of business, though not specifically on party political lines.

As Tännler himself explained, one of the great strengths of the canton of Zug is the power of its economy, which benefits not only the people of Zug but, though the National Equalisation Fund, other regions of Switzerland, too. Hence he thought it was only appropriate that the Federal Council and the Federal Parliament were made aware of the needs of the canton and took these concerns into account when making decisions.

With Parmelin present, this gave the local representatives of business the opportunity of doing just this.

One of the concerns expressed by the local businessmen was the increased regulation they were having to deal with, something which was having a deleterious effect on small businesses in particular. This meant that businesses which could go on to develop into big concerns were being stifled, hence a call for politicians of the centre to be governed by basic values rather than be too influenced by newspaper headlines of the day, something with which Parmelin himself agreed, prior to calling for more solidarity among politicians of the centre.

The qualified agriculturist and winegrower went on to mention how important vocational training was and how it was essential opportunities were there for continual further training. Indeed, he regarded this as one of the most important and most sustainable commodities in the country. He also emphasised how important it was for those professionals employed to experience the success of the companies they worked for by being appropriately remunerated, otherwise there was a risk of their becoming demotivated. One way of achieving this, he thought, was to reduce public spending to allow individuals to keep more of what they earned.

The federal councillor did not hold back on his praise for the canton of Zug, citing how its growth between 2008 and 2018 was double that of the Swiss average. “The canton is exemplary in its dynamism,” he said, prompting Tännler to ask whether the rest of Switzerland realised this, adding how he had noticed that at conferences where warning words were to be heard in relation to finances and taxes, Zug was often mocked, with people considering wrongly that the canton had no financial problems. “It is as if we are continually being punished for coming top of the class,” said Tännler.

Above all, Parmelin warned Switzerland and the canton of Zug to remain alert, with other states trying to enforce fiscal harmonisation, at a cost to Switzerland of CHF 5 billion. For this reason, Parmelin looked to see strong representation from centrist parties in Zug in the national parliament, providing the Federal Council with greater support for what it wanted to push through.