Swiss vote

[NickP]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/swiss-immigration-vote-39-worrying-39-french-foreign-080748360--sector.html#mgaRqwp

 I'm surprised, considering the howls of outrage from certain people on this forum when anybody in Britain suggests immigration controls, how quiet it is about this news. [Www] 

[Frederick]

The Dutch are making noises to go in the same direction.....This might just spur them on

[Quillan]

It has been talked about for a few days leading up to the vote in the press.

The problem now is their trade agreement which they have broken if they carry this through as over 50% of their exports is to the EU. As Viviane Reding said ""the single market is not like a Swiss cheese, you cannot have a single market with holes in it". Basically it could be bad news for both the EU and the Swiss although bigger bad news for the Swiss than the EU. It is something the pro EU lobby will be watching with great interest.

[idun]

Bof, the EU has near black holes in it with stupidity and mis use of public funds, why on earth should a sovereign country be then 'penalised' by protecting it's own borders, especially when they are not in the EU.

[andyh4]

Bof

Why should a country be penalised? Simply because they are not in the EU and do not apply the EU rules anymore - which until now they have agreed to do.

The fact that many out of the EUers miss, is that if the UK leaves, it relies on the EEA rules. These mean the UK now abides by EU laws on things like free movement of labour and import export rules BUT no longer has any say. If the UK then goes one step further it is out of the EEA, and there are no rights or rules at all. If the EU decides to impose 100% import taxes, tough, you (the UK in this example) chose to change the playing field.

[idun]

As far as I remember the only thing that we have ever voted for in the UK was for the EEC, NOT what we have now. And I voted against all that time ago!

Yes, I know that there are rules, and if they were good rules, I may not be so enraged by the whole EU suedo dictator rules, most of which feel so far removed from 'my' life than I could ever imagine in a democracy.

[NickP]

[quote user="andyh4"]Bof Why should a country be penalised? Simply because they are not in the EU .[/quote]

 

As far as I understand Switzerland is not a full member of the European union so why are you getting excited? If the UK did leave the EU; and this is not what this thread is a about, there is as much chance of the EU imposing 100% import duties as being handcuffed to a ghost, or have you forgotten that the EU exports lots of goodies to the UK. The subject ot this thread is the Swiss voting to curb immigration into their country, not what the UK might or might not do.[:'(]

[Quillan]

I am not talking about the UK just Switzerland and the EU. To help you to understand the links between the Swiss and the EU you might try the following link and I am sure there are other, more in depth, sources.

As far as I understand it there are ten specific treaties which also includes most of the EEA and EFTA treaties of which is the freedom of movement is included. Therefore technically everything goes out the window because the Swiss negotiated something that intrinsically connected all of them together, you break one you break all although I would think that will not happen.

Now to talk about the UK. If the Swiss manage to put this vote into effect without penalty then surely this would also be good for the UK. I mean you can't tell the UK they can't negotiate (which it appears the EU is currently saying) if they technically have allowed the Swiss to. In other wods it could work to the UK's advantage.

[NickP]

So forget the original question, which it appears everybody is tip toeing around. Why isn't all and sundry decrying the Swiss? After all Nasty Nigel was a bogey man for daring to suggest the same thing. [:D]

[idun]

Why decry the swiss? I don't think that it is unreasonable.

A couple of weeks ago we were chatting with a friend who said that they had loved working in Switzerland and when I asked why they hadn't stayed, they said that they had simply been chucked out when their visa expired in the 1980's. We all agreed it was a shame, and none of us made a fuss about it.

[woolybanana]

Surely a people have a right to control who lives and works in their country, as well as the right to have guest workers who leave when their job is done?

In the EU this right has been given away through treaty but is now, perhaps, reaching a point where it is being abused, where imbalances are creeping and and need to be corrected?

The democratic deficit in Europe has created this situation. Can we say that the Swiss do not have the right to consult and make a different democratic decision?

[Thibault]

The problem, though Wooly, is that the powers that be in Brussels have no interest in dealing with the democratic deficit. In fact, just the opposite.