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Old June 16th, 2016 #1
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Post Switzerland withdraws application to join the EU

Switzerland withdraws application to join the EU

Proponents of the motion want to bring clarity to EU-Switzerland relations.

The Swiss parliament on Wednesday voted to officially withdraw the country’s dormant application to join the European Union.

Following a vote in the lower house, the government will now tell the EU to “consider [the application] as withdrawn,” Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter was quoted as saying by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Burkhalter had earlier said the application, which was sent to the European Economic Community in 1992, was already invalid.

In 1992, the Swiss rejected joining the European Economic Area, of which Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein are members, giving them access to the EU single market.

At the time, the Swiss government saw EEA membership as a precursor to joining

read full article at source: http://www.politico.eu/article/switz...o-join-the-eu/
 
Old June 16th, 2016 #2
Toecutter
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I wish Switzerland considered the EU's application to Switzerand....not....
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Old September 9th, 2023 #3
jagd messer
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Default Why Switzerland rejected membership as 'only lunatics join'


EU humiliated: Why Switzerland rejected membership as 'only lunatics join'


THE EUROPEAN UNION has sought to expand by attracting new members to the bloc, but Switzerland rejected the idea of membership as one politician in the country claimed "only lunatics would join now".



THE EUROPEAN UNION has sought to expand by attracting new members to the bloc, but Switzerland rejected the idea of membership as one politician in the country claimed "only lunatics would join now".

Politicians in Switzerland voted to withdraw the country's application for membership of the EU, just one week before the UK voted to leave the bloc in 2016. Thomas Minder, counsellor for Schaffhausen state and an active promoter of the concept of 'Swissness,' said at the time he was eager to "close the topic fast and painlessly" as only "a few lunatics" may want to join the EU now. Switzerland began the application process 14 years prior in 1992, and all the work towards the goal was dashed as a total of 27 members of parliament's upper house voted to invalidate the application, backing up an earlier decision by the lower house.

Only 13 senators voted against while two abstained. Swiss media quoted the country's Foreign Minister at the time as claiming he would give Brussels formal notice. Hannes Germann, also representing Schaffhausen, compared the symbolic importance to Iceland’s decision to drop its membership bid in 2015. He said: “Iceland had the courage and withdrew the application for membership, so no volcano erupted."

Despite the process having dragged out for well over a decade, Swiss politics had barely been impacted. Switzerland had a referendum on whether to join the European Economic Area where the country narrowly decided to reject the idea.This provoked the Swiss Government to suspend the application for EU membership. Filippo Lombardi, from the Christian Democratic People’s Party, said it was "not very clever to discuss it once again" and called the whole thing "a bit ridiculous".

Switzerland, never a member of the EU, shares free trade with the union and free movement of people as part of the Schengen zone. The bloc would suffer a second humiliation within a month when the British public voted to leave the EU in June 2016.The process has been marred by chaos and stalemate as Prime Minister Theresa May tried and failed three times to get her withdrawal agreement through the House of Commons. In July last year, Boris Johnson took over as Prime Minister and – after a string of defeats in Parliament – called for a general election. He secured an 80-seat majority while Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party suffered its worst electoral defeat since 1935.

After the UK left the EU on January 31, trade talks between London and Brussels started. The key dispute so far has seen the bloc's Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier demand continued EU access to British fishing waters in exchange for access to European markets. This has created a dilemma for Mr Johnson and his government, as the Prime Minister wants to take back independent control of UK fishing grounds.


The Swiss have real democracy. They vote before the gov't does anything important.

Wish we had this democracy in my country. In Canada we have an elected dictatorship. We get to vote but the politicians do what they want once they are in. And it's usually corrupt.

The only difference between us and the Swiss is that we won't be part of Shengen, no free movement, no paying in. Put ourselves first. Stay away from wars and more importantly well away from the EU madhouse.



EU news: Why Switzerland rejected membership as 'only ...


09 IX 2023.
 
Old September 9th, 2023 #4
Ole Massa
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Swiss neutrality at work.
 
Old September 9th, 2023 #5
Ray Allan
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Sweden used to be that way also, but now it is on track to join the North Atlantic Terrorist Organization just like Finland recently did.
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