Swiss French continue love affair with France

Multilingual Switzerland is surrounded by larger neighbours (Nasa)

French-speaking Swiss are following the upcoming presidential elections in France with interest, mainly because of their close ties to their larger neighbour.

Swiss French speakers like to watch French television, listen to French music, take the high-speed train to Paris and holiday in Provence.

“People like to make fun of some of the country’s failings. But people are, and always have been, very ‘into’ France,” explains Jacques Pilet, a French-speaking newspaper industry executive.

French supermarket car parks near the borders are full of Swiss number plates at the weekend, as the Swiss stock up on French goodies.

Around 160,000 French live in Switzerland, making it one of the largest French expatriate communities. It now includes French rock star Johnny Hallyday who caused controversy when he recently announced his move to Switzerland to escape heavy French taxes.

“All children in French-speaking Switzerland know about [outgoing president] Jacques Chirac and [presidential candidates] Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal, because there is a intensive consumption of French media and a more direct emotional relationship with France,” adds Peter Rothenbühler of the French-speaking newspaper Le Matin.

“[Former German chancellor] Gerhard Schröder could walk around Zurich without being recognised by most people,” says Rothenbühler, who knows from experience since he originally hails from German-speaking Switzerland.

Relations between Swiss-French and the majority Swiss Germans are sometimes strained, linguistically and culturally.

Outward look

This could explain why French speakers tend to look outwards. In votes on European Union issues, the French speakers invariably vote for closer cooperation, whereas this is rejected by Swiss Germans, Rothenbühler says.

“[Their] sometimes rather naïve enthusiasm for Europe stems from the fact that they prefer to be part of a huge entity which brings them closer to Paris and Brussels than always be linked to German-speaking Switzerland, where they have a communication problem.”

Pilet, who works for Ringier publishing in Zurich, agrees. “Being in the majority makes some Swiss Germans arrogant, particularly in Zurich. It’s a bit like when the Parisians [look down on] the French provinces.”

But while many French-speaking Swiss feel a cultural and linguistic allegiance to France, Swiss Germans have a more complex relationship with Germany.

Rothenbühler says this more hostile attitude towards the northern neighbour has its roots in the Second World War. Friction has also been caused by the fact that Germans speak High German and the Swiss, a Germanic dialect.

German imperialism

“For a long time the German language was associated with German imperialism and Nazism,” Rothenbühler explains.

“They therefore developed a defensive attitude, which is why Swiss Germans are so attached to their dialect, whereas the Swiss French have never had any serious political problem with France.”

Rothenbühler believes that attitudes are slowly changing, but there are lingering doubts. Germans are now among the fastest growing expatriate groups – often taking up top positions in academia, business and medicine.

This has caused much debate in the Swiss-German media, with the mass-circulation Blick even going so far as to ask, “how many Germans can Switzerland put up with?”

But according to Pilet, these opinions do not always correspond to reality.

“In the German-speaking part, people like to distance themselves from Germany, they criticise it, they tend to make a show of their differences, of which they are – with good reason – proud,” Pilet says.

“But I am very struck by the growing influence German has on daily life and even on mentalities in German-speaking Switzerland.”

French-speakers find different ways of highlighting their differences to France, Pilet concludes.

swissinfo

Key facts

The first round of the French presidential elections takes place on Sunday April 22. If, as is usually the case, no candidate wins 50% or more of the vote, the election goes to a second round between the two leading candidates on May 6.
Around 1.5 million people live in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, more than 60 million in France.
Around 4.6 million people live in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, 82 million in Germany.
160,000 French people live in Switzerland.
More than 76,000 are registered to vote in the French presidential elections.

French democracy

In France the president has extensive powers – he represents the country abroad and can make or break the government. He or she is elected for five years by voters in a two-round process.

French politics is traditionally divided between the Left and the Right, alternating between opposition and the government.

The people also vote for parliament every five years. The party with the majority fields the most ministers. Regional authorities are chosen every six years.

French citizens can also vote in referendums called by the president.

Swiss democracy

Switzerland has a seven-member cabinet chosen from the four main parties, with a rotating one-year presidency. Parliament has two chambers, which are elected every four years.

The country has a system of direct democracy, which means that citizens vote up to four times a year on referendums or people’s initiatives.

People also vote for their local authorities and cantonal parliaments. Under Swiss federalism most of the laws governing daily life are cantonal ones.