Swiss grapple with identity, economy in immigration vote

By Caroline Copley WINTERTHUR, Switzerland (Reuters) – Low taxes and good infrastructure aside, what entrepreneur Thorsten Schwenke really needs to grow his small Swiss-based business is the right people, regardless of their nationality. That's why he is so bewildered by a vote in Switzerland on February 9 on whether to impose restrictions on immigrants from the European Union, and by the proposal's increasing popularity in a country where foreign labor helped forge a powerful economy. "If I was forced to only consider hiring Swiss people, I would just move," said 41-year-old Schwenke, who founded Thelkin, a maker of mechanical testing equipment for orthopedic implants in the northeastern town of Winterthur in 2010. "For a company my size, the right people are more important than the tax benefits." A vote in favor of the motion, 12 years after a free movement of people agreement with the European Union came into force, could hurt an economy reliant on foreign professionals by increasing red tape and calling into question its bilateral accords with the bloc.