Swiss vote for closer ties with EU

 

By Tom Wright International Herald TribuneMONDAY, JUNE 6, 2005GENEVA Swiss voters on Sunday approved plans to join the European Union's passport-free zone, a movethat shows Switzerland is moving further away from its traditional isolation in the region.In a referendum, 55 percent of voters agreed to join the EU's Schengen and Dublin accords, which theSwiss government signed last year.Under the Schengen accord, Switzerland will dismantle passport controls at its borders with othercountries in the zone, and beef up security cooperation. The Dublin accord harmonizes asylumprocedures between members of the group.Samuel Schmid, Switzerland's president, said at a news conference in Bern that the result "willallow Switzerland to intensify its cooperation with the EU."The result goes against the prevailing mood in the EU, which was underscored by the rejections byFrench and Dutch voters of a proposed constitution for the 25-nation bloc.In Brussels, the EU foreign affairs commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and the justicecommissioner, Franco Frattini, welcomed the vote on behalf of the European Commission."The ratification of these association agreements is an important step in the relations betweenSwitzerland and the European Union," Ferrero-Waldner and Frattini said in a joint statement to TheAssociated Press. "On the one hand, freedom of movement will obviously be facilitated; on the otherhand, the cooperation on internal security can be strengthened."For Switzerland, which has carefully guarded its neutrality in foreign affairs for much of the past400 years, accords like Schengen and Dublin show how things are changing, analysts say.The Swiss government, which supports eventual EU membership, argues that cross-border threats liketerrorism and organized crime mean that the country has to work with other nations.But a large number of older voters, especially from rural German-speaking eastern parts of thecountry, believe Switzerland should stick to its isolation.Most German-speaking cantons, excluding Zurich, Bern, Basel and Zug, voted no Sunday to the accords.French-speaking cantons, like Geneva, were strongly in favor.The far-right Swiss People's Party, known by its acronym SVP, was able to increase the no vote inthe past few weeks by linking the referendum to voter fears about immigration, unemployment andcrime.The Swiss People's Party accused the government of using the accords to move Switzerland closer tofull EU membership, which it claims a majority of Swiss do not want."People were told this was a security issue," said Luzi Stamm, a lawmaker for the party. "But reallyit was about getting closer to the EU."The government, backed by police and immigration services, sold Schengen-Dublin as a measure thatwas needed to reduce crime and illegal immigration.Authorities stressed that the accords would not mean giving up any power to Brussels, which helpedwin over voters, analysts said.Because Switzerland is still not part of the EU's customs union, border guards will continue tocarry out controls on goods at the frontier.Since the early 1990s, Swiss voters have twice rejected plans to begin negotiations to join theEuropean Union. The government admits that Swiss voters are still far from backing membership.Swiss people have been slow to accept change to their neutrality. Switzerland only joined the UnitedNations in 2002 after voters finally approved the move in a referendum that year.Fewer people support EU entry today than a decade ago, when the fall of Communism created anatmosphere of detente in the region, said Johann Aeschlimann, a political commentator.A sputtering economy and fears that efforts to open Switzerland's economy will lead to greaterunemployment have helped the Swiss People's Party sow its anti-EU message, he said.A second referendum planned for the fall, on a pact with the EU to make it easier for East Europeansto work here, is likely to face stiffer resistance, analysts say.In Switzerland's direct form of democracy, the Swiss People's Party was able to force referendums onboth of the EU agreements by collecting signatures.On Sunday, Swiss voters also agreed to allow homosexual couples to register their relationships.The law gives same-sex couples the same legal rights as married couples in financial matters liketaxes.But it stops short of allowing them to adopt children or obtain access to fertility treatment.The Parliament passed the law last year, but a small conservative religious party forced areferendum on the issue.http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/06/05/news/swiss.php