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The Aargau Gregory Juillerat brings thirteen Ukrainians to safety – and criticizes the party leaders in the “Arena”. In addition, SVP National Councilor Thomas Aeschi commented on his statement, which the Commission against Racism classifies as racist.
The solidarity of the Swiss civilian population towards the Ukrainians who have fled is still overwhelming. Gregory Juillerat from Wohlenschwil in the canton of Aargau could no longer stand by and brought thirteen Ukrainian women and children to Switzerland, as he told the “Arena” on Friday evening.
Juillerat’s wife originally comes from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which has now become a hotly contested target. Friends of Ludmilla Juillerat and their children sought shelter from the explosions in cellars and had to endure the cold for days before they could flee to Hungary.
The federal government is dependent on the solidarity of the private sector, but they are currently being left alone.
From there, Gregory Juillerat brought them to Switzerland in two minibuses. He is grateful for the generous help from the population, said Juillerat. But he is also worried that solidarity will begin to crumble if the federal government does not take action slowly. “I also have trouble with the role models that we have here in the group, where everyone has an excuse why he or she can’t take in refugees,” he criticized the party leaders who met that evening.
In the federal asylum centers one is not prepared for the coming wave of refugees, there are far too few places for refugees. “The federal government depends on the solidarity of the private sector, but they are being left sitting,” said Juillerat. He would have hoped for more from working with his community. For example, it took a while for the children of the Ukrainian women to start school here or for the Ukrainian women to be able to receive social assistance.
The cantons are facing a major challenge
The quick and unbureaucratic help that Minister of Justice Karin Keller-Sutter had promised is in reality more difficult to implement than expected. After three weeks of war, over 9,000 people have already fled to Switzerland. Keller-Suter assumes that up to 50,000 Ukrainians seeking protection could come to Switzerland by June. While the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) said ten days ago that it was prepared to accept and accommodate the refugees, there are now queues in front of the federal asylum centers.
“For the most part, the cantons are not ready to take in thousands of refugees,” said FDP President Thierry Burkart on the show. The infrastructure is still lacking. The flow of refugees would be a huge challenge in the coming days and weeks. “Here we now need a great deal of commitment from the cantons.” But Burkart also recognized the “unique performance” that the authorities have already made. “We have to accept that everything doesn’t go perfectly from one day to the next.”
SVP faction leader on his racist statement
If it is up to the National Council and SVP parliamentary group leader Thomas Aeschi, only “real” war refugees should be allowed to come to Switzerland. He said so in the special parliamentary debate on the war in Ukraine. With another statement in the council chamber, and therefore under political immunity, Aeschi caused great outrage: “It must not be that Nigerians or Iraqis with Ukrainian passports suddenly rape 18-year-old Ukrainian women! That must not be allowed.”
At the request of the editors of “Arena”, the Federal Commission against Racism (ERK) classified the statement as racist: “Mr. Aeschi uses racist stereotypes to generalize a group of people (in this case Iraqis and Nigerians) as rapists and criminals to represent. Such racist statements, which promote prejudice and fuel rejection of the groups concerned, should be condemned.”
Aeschi said on the show that his statement referred to an incident in Germany in which a suspected Nigerian and a suspected Iraqi raped a Ukrainian woman. It was a mistake that he did not emphasize this more clearly. Switzerland must ensure that criminals do not enter the country “in the tow of the war refugees”. “Someone who is a criminal has no right to come to Switzerland.” That was his message.
“What gives me hope is the people of this country who won’t be divided.”
In protest against his statements, the leader of the Green Group, Aline Trede, had canceled the invitation to the “Arena” for the debate on Friday evening in advance. The SRF “Arena” gives “the racist agitation of SVP exponents a platform by actively addressing Thomas Aeschi’s derailment in the National Council”. The Greens did not want to “legitimize” this.
Moderator Sandro Brotz said: “Racism has absolutely no place in the “Arena”. However, the editors of the “Arena” do not go into the conditions and pressure attempts that impede journalistic freedom. “It would have been unjournalistic to have Thomas Aeschi on the show and not to speak to him about his statements.” These have been classified accordingly.
“What gives me hope are the people in this country who don’t let themselves be divided, who stick together as a society at this difficult moment,” said SP co-president Mattea Meyer. She also has great hope that in the future Switzerland will accept people who have fled to Switzerland with more solidarity than we have done in the past, regardless of whether they are fleeing from Kyiv or from the bombs in Syria or before of Taliban rule from Afghanistan».