GENEVA (Thomson Financial) - Swiss Economy Minister Doris Leuthard has warned that foreign investors could be put off Switzerland because of the virulent tone of the general election campaign, a Swiss newspaper reported on Sunday.
'People underestimate the impact abroad,' the NZZ am Sonntag quoted her as saying a week before the election on Oct 21.
'There is the danger that foreign investors will be frightened away,' added Leuthard, a centre-right Christian Democrat.
She reportedly said that limits were crossed with some of the poster campaigning. Leuthard was approached by counterparts from other countries about the election campaign, according to the Sunday newspaper.
Posters by the far right Swiss People's Party (SVP) depicting white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss flag have triggered an uproar in foreign newspapers.
Leuthard is Switzerland's youngest minister, and the most popular since she joined the four-party, prime minister-less government, the Federal Council, over a year ago, according to opinion polls.
The SVP is the country's strongest political party with about 27 pct support and one of the governing partners.
In remarks published Sunday, SVP stalwart and Justice Minister Christoph Blocher reiterated that the imagery was meant to underpin the party's campaign to expel foreigners convicted of criminal offences in Switzerland.
'Foreigners are welcome, but 'black sheep' -- criminals that is -- aren't,' he said in an interview with the SonntagsZeitung newspaper.
Blocher said Sunday that he wanted talks after the election on a possible return to the pre-1959 centre right coalition with the Christian Democrats and business-friendly Radicals, instead of the current cross-party consensus with the Socialists.
Similar bids by the far right party in recent years have been rebuffed. Blocher also told Sonntagszeitung he stood by the Swiss system of consensus 'even if this has drawbacks.'
Switzerland's political stability is one of the country's principal attractions for foreign investors.
Alongside the SVP's 63 seats in parliament, the Socialists have 61, the Radicals 50 seats and the Christian Democrats 43. Opinion polls for Swiss television indicate that the balance is likely to be broadly unchanged. tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com afp/hjp COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
'People underestimate the impact abroad,' the NZZ am Sonntag quoted her as saying a week before the election on Oct 21.
'There is the danger that foreign investors will be frightened away,' added Leuthard, a centre-right Christian Democrat.
She reportedly said that limits were crossed with some of the poster campaigning. Leuthard was approached by counterparts from other countries about the election campaign, according to the Sunday newspaper.
Posters by the far right Swiss People's Party (SVP) depicting white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss flag have triggered an uproar in foreign newspapers.
Leuthard is Switzerland's youngest minister, and the most popular since she joined the four-party, prime minister-less government, the Federal Council, over a year ago, according to opinion polls.
The SVP is the country's strongest political party with about 27 pct support and one of the governing partners.
In remarks published Sunday, SVP stalwart and Justice Minister Christoph Blocher reiterated that the imagery was meant to underpin the party's campaign to expel foreigners convicted of criminal offences in Switzerland.
'Foreigners are welcome, but 'black sheep' -- criminals that is -- aren't,' he said in an interview with the SonntagsZeitung newspaper.
Blocher said Sunday that he wanted talks after the election on a possible return to the pre-1959 centre right coalition with the Christian Democrats and business-friendly Radicals, instead of the current cross-party consensus with the Socialists.
Similar bids by the far right party in recent years have been rebuffed. Blocher also told Sonntagszeitung he stood by the Swiss system of consensus 'even if this has drawbacks.'
Switzerland's political stability is one of the country's principal attractions for foreign investors.
Alongside the SVP's 63 seats in parliament, the Socialists have 61, the Radicals 50 seats and the Christian Democrats 43. Opinion polls for Swiss television indicate that the balance is likely to be broadly unchanged. tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com afp/hjp COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.