It’s an unexpected turnaround: two days before the biennial congress of the USAM (Swiss Union of Arts and Crafts), Fabio Regazzi, its new president, says he wants to give “more importance to future treaties with the EU, because they are essential for many SMEs. And this even if “there are still critical points in the European file”, he specifies in an interview with the “SonntagsZeitung” and in the TA Media titles of the day. As a reminder, the umbrella organization was fiercely opposed to the framework agreement with the European Union (EU) which was ultimately abandoned.
The Ticino State Councilor (The Center) notes that we “too often forget that, in addition to large groups, some 40% of SMEs work in exports. If we let old agreements with the EU weaken instead of renewing them, exports to the EU will become increasingly complicated.” An entrepreneur himself, he says he is also worried about the lack of labor in our country, which he finds difficult.
Fabio Regazzi is confident that his umbrella organization will accept the new package of agreements negotiated between Bern and Brussels and that “the chances of obtaining new European treaties are intact”. But he admits that many SMEs are worried about seeing foreign companies practicing wage dumping in Switzerland once the new agreements are signed: “We want to avoid this at all costs. USAM will only agree if salary protection is 100% guaranteed”
Among the other points criticized so far at the USAM, there is that of the role of the European Court of Justice in the settlement of disputes between Switzerland and the EU. However, from now on the umbrella organization “no longer has any objections in principle on these points”, he said.
