The mayor of the Swiss town of Wigoltingen, Franca Burkhardt, has expressed concern about what she considers to be the problematic behaviour of some Ukrainian refugees. In her column for the SVP newspaper, she stated that some individuals with temporary protection status show disrespect for the authorities, are unwilling to integrate into society, and have a consumerist attitude towards social assistance.
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Burkhardt emphasised that Switzerland has accepted about 70,000 Ukrainians, and federal spending on their support alone has exceeded 1.25 billion francs. She noted that social service workers are increasingly facing challenges that are not typical of other refugee groups.
‘Unwillingness to cooperate, avoidance of work, aloofness — all this creates the impression that assistance is taken for granted rather than as an act of solidarity,’ Burkhardt wrote. She added that most often complaints are not about those who have actually suffered from the war, but about people from less affected regions or those who only have a Ukrainian passport without a direct threat to their lives.
Separately, the mayor drew attention to the tension in the interaction between Ukrainians and other refugees, in particular from Afghanistan. According to her, some Ukrainians refuse to live with Afghan migrants in dormitories. At the same time, as the official notes, Afghans mostly demonstrate positive integration dynamics: they learn the language, look for work and try to adapt to life in a new country.
In conclusion, Franca Burkhardt emphasised that Switzerland provides protection to refugees, not tourists, and called on everyone who remains in the country to show respect, responsibility and a willingness to integrate.
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