"I will do such things—what they are yet I know not, but they shall be the terrors of the earth!"
The EU, like the unfortunate Lear, is issuing furious but unspecific threats. One after another, MEPs and Eurocrats have lined up to tell the Swiss that their vote against unrestricted EU immigration will have monstrous (though carefully undefined) consequences. Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, says that Switzerland's other bilateral treaties with the EU might be called into question. The Socialist leader, Hannes Swoboda, hints darkly at economic retaliation: “If Switzerland suspends immigration from the EU, it will not be able to count on all the economic and trade benefits it is currently enjoying." Commissioner Viviane Reding tells us that the single market is "not like a Swiss cheese" (actually, it's very like a Swiss cheese: there are all sorts of derogations, exemptions and other holes).
British Euro-enthusiasts, taking their cue from their Brussels leaders, are slavering at the prospect of anti-Swiss sanctions. By making an example of the Switzers, they hope, the EU will scare the British out of attempting any serious renegotiation of their own. So far, though, the only punishment delivered by Brussels has been, er, the deferral of some talks on cross-border sales of electricity.
When the Eurocrats have finished letting off steam, some brute facts will remain. First, free trade suits the EU as well as Switzerland. Indeed, with the Helvetic Confederation growing economically while the eurozone shrinks, it's the EU that is gaining more. The same is true of free movement of labour. It's not just that a quarter of Switzerland's residents are EU nationals; hundreds of thousands more cross the border from neighbouring countries to work in the cantons. Switzerland, in short, has a strong negotiating hand. Full story...
Related posts:
The EU, like the unfortunate Lear, is issuing furious but unspecific threats. One after another, MEPs and Eurocrats have lined up to tell the Swiss that their vote against unrestricted EU immigration will have monstrous (though carefully undefined) consequences. Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, says that Switzerland's other bilateral treaties with the EU might be called into question. The Socialist leader, Hannes Swoboda, hints darkly at economic retaliation: “If Switzerland suspends immigration from the EU, it will not be able to count on all the economic and trade benefits it is currently enjoying." Commissioner Viviane Reding tells us that the single market is "not like a Swiss cheese" (actually, it's very like a Swiss cheese: there are all sorts of derogations, exemptions and other holes).
British Euro-enthusiasts, taking their cue from their Brussels leaders, are slavering at the prospect of anti-Swiss sanctions. By making an example of the Switzers, they hope, the EU will scare the British out of attempting any serious renegotiation of their own. So far, though, the only punishment delivered by Brussels has been, er, the deferral of some talks on cross-border sales of electricity.
When the Eurocrats have finished letting off steam, some brute facts will remain. First, free trade suits the EU as well as Switzerland. Indeed, with the Helvetic Confederation growing economically while the eurozone shrinks, it's the EU that is gaining more. The same is true of free movement of labour. It's not just that a quarter of Switzerland's residents are EU nationals; hundreds of thousands more cross the border from neighbouring countries to work in the cantons. Switzerland, in short, has a strong negotiating hand. Full story...
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- Switzerland to restrict immigration despite EU anger...
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