It’s not a "yes" to Europe ” “

The extension of the free circulation of persons to the ten latest states to join the European Union was accepted by the Swiss population with a decent majority: over 56%. Voter turnout was 54%: not bad for a country that calls its citizens to vote two or three times a year on the most disparate questions. The fears on the eve of the poll – predicting a very narrow margin, with the risk of the undecided voting “no” in the last moment – were suddenly dissipated. The French and German speaking Cantons voted in favour of the referendum, in a quite clear way, while Ticino – the only Canton that is entirely Italian speaking – broke ranks by rejecting the referendum with a clear 64%: a significant signal from that part of Switzerland that lives close to the Italian frontier, but utterly without any influence on the result of the referendum. Following the victory of the “yes” camp”, it will now be a question of applying the rules that are already in force for the “old Europe” and that will in the next five years give workers from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta and Cyprus the chance to come to Switzerland and offer their services on the labour market there. It’s a free circulation that in actual fact will not be all that free, given that a quota system will remain in operation till 2011: labour permits will be granted on the basis of tightly controlled annual quotas. The aim of this clause is to avoid not only an invasion of workers that would be difficult for the small Confederation to manage, but also situations of worker abuse and wage dumping. Swiss entrepreneurs see the question differently: the countries of Eastern Europe are a huge potential labour market still waiting to be exploited. And this is the main reason why the world of big business and finance in Switzerland eagerly supported this referendum, which had been vehemently opposed by the nationalist right and the more radical fringes of the left. But the result of the vote also expresses another conviction in a clear way: in contrast to what might be thought after this partial “yes” to Europe, the Swiss have in no way expressed a greater openness to, or enthusiasm for, eventual membership of the European Union. On the contrary. Precisely by approving once again a part of the bilateral accords signed between the EU and the Swiss Confederation (as already twice in the recent past), Swiss citizens have sent a clear signal to their government: let us continue on the path of accords discussed and approved on a one-by-one basis, on individual questions. Schengen-Dublin is fine; the free circulation of persons is fine (albeit with built-in conditions…). But let there be no talk of full EU membership, with single currency, representation in the Parliament in Brussels and all the rest of it. That’s something else, and the Swiss people are not yet ready for it. The government itself is well aware of this. After the positive result in Sunday’s referendum, Swiss President Samuel Schmid made it known that at the end of October the executive will hold a closed session dedicated to Switzerland’s European policy. Only then will it be decided whether it is appropriate to withdraw the application for EU membership that has lying dormant in the filing cupboards of the European Commission since 1992, or to put it on hold once again and wait for better times. Calling for a final withdrawal of the application is, this time, not just the nationalist and conservative right of Christoph Blocher and his Centre Democratic Union, but also an historic party like the Radical-Liberals, linked to important economic interests that have a more cautious and pragmatic approach to the European question. So far the government has always rejected the request for withdrawal, maintaining that this step would uselessly irritate the European Union. But meanwhile it has tried to widen the horizons of Swiss foreign policy, gradually distancing itself from the strategic objective of EU accession. And it is looking with an ever more interested eye at relations with the USA and the emerging countries of Asia, especially China. The Swiss will return to the ballot box on 27 November to vote on the safeguard of food products containing genetically manipulated substances and on the opening of shops in “major transit zones”.