Sunday's narrow vote in Switzerland with 50.3%in favor of re-instituting immigration quotas caused some upset in Germany's political class.
Switzerland is not part of the European Union but has a wide array of agreements on trade and the "free" movement of people which will now have to be revisited.
Switzerland, despite having a whooping 23% of first generation immigrants, was accused of putting up a wall, of reneging on vital agreements and so forth by the Germans who have a foreigner percentage of 9.1%.
Why so much upset by the Germans?
First, they are the biggest group of foreigners in Switzerland at about 300 000 in a country of just around 8 million.
Second, German mainstream politicians fear that the recent debate about "benefits tourism" may be revived and taint the carefully crafted image of the "welcoming nation".
Third, and probably worst, the vote by their southern neighbor reminds Germans that they, too, are foreigners.
The Germans are being treated by the Swiss like the Germans treat other non-European Union immigrants. Roll out the welcome mat for the unicorns - the elusive highly qualified in-demand immigrants while trying to keep everybody else out.
It is biblical and hilarious.
And with EU wide elections to the European Parliament due this spring, the don't rock the boat crowd is getting a bit worried.
By Monday afternoon, the PR and messaging specialists of Germany's main parties had settled on a more conciliatory strategy. The gist of the newly mature approach is: The vote is a setback but you have to understand the Swiss, their situation is different.
This should calm down everyone, given that the last two times the Germans felt unloved did not turn out well.
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