PUBLICATION:  Citizens Centre Report
DATE:  2003.03.03
PAGE:  26
Byline: Colby Cosh

Swiss voters govern Switzerland
by Colby Cosh

Does tiny, hyperdemocratic Switzerland have a future amid the coalescence of European powers into a unified superstate? The stubbornly neutral Swiss made a startling concession last year by voting, in a double majority, to join the United Nations at long last. Swiss voters had rejected UN membership before, but the “outward-looking” Swiss francophones finally got their way, stretching the notion of “neutrality” beyond its pre-existing bounds. Some feel that, with a bit more stretching, Swiss entry into the European Union (EU) is inevitable in the long run. This would impose a fourth layer of government on the Swiss—one that, so far, shows little evidence of caring about subsidiary, or democratic, accountability. (Moreover, it would force the Swiss to adopt laws against tax evasion, which is currently not a crime there.)

Right now, Switzerland’s entry into the EU remains improbable. In a strong March 2001 vote, the country refused to even begin preliminary talks on the issue. But the Swiss have chosen to make economic “side deals” with the EU, accepting some free-trade benefits of membership. And there are signs of a new Swiss “cultural cringe”; some citizens felt awkward about the temporary pariah status imposed by the world press after the scandal over Holocaust victims’ bank accounts that were trapped in a 45-year limbo of secrecy.” You can’t escape Europe,” says Andreas Bucher, predicting EU membership for Switzerland within a generation or so. But he believes Europe will be forced to become more “Swiss” before the Swiss become “European.” “I can tell you...that it is a lot more interesting and rewarding for the average citizen to express his opinion of factual propositions several times a year, rather than to vote every four years or so for some faraway politician,” he says. “And far away they will be, in an EU of 25 or more member states.” Direct democracy is “good and necessary...because Switzerland is a patchwork of many cultures. And so,” he concludes meaningfully, “is Europe.”