Earlier we introduced the Gotthard Base Tunnel, the longest and deepest tunnel in the world. The 35 mile long tunnel which cuts underneath the Alps helps remove natural barriers to trade and tourism, and is undoubtedly a testament to Swiss precision engineering.
Interestingly, as Bloomberg reports, the tunnel that was 17 years in the making and had workers on three shifts working around the clock to build, was built primarily by foreigners.
Only 14 percent of the workers were from Switzerland, while 29 percent came from Italy, 17 percent from Austria, 12 percent from Germany, 7 percent from Portugal, and 21 percent from other countries.
It's ironic that the tunnel was built primarily by foreigners because two years ago the electorate voted for quotas on immigration from EU countries, and the issue is one of the most pressing that the EU is currently dealing with as German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Francois Hollande, and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi are set to attend an opening ceremony for the tunnel on Wednesday.
Max Stern, co-founder of the Swiss foreign policy forum says the event can be a chance "to show that we're working in good faith and contributing to Europe's cohesion", however given that Switzerland has already made arrangements to station troops at its borders if future immigration gets too far out of control, the ceremony will likely be nothing more than a photo op for those involved - just a way for Merkel and Hollande to escape the real issues they've been dealing with back at home.
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Here is a short clip showing the finished tunnel
And a longer video that shows the type of work that was done in order to get the Gotthard Base Tunnel built.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpYaHmX2f88