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> EU officials have always told Switzerland it cannot cherry pick only those parts of European policy it likes best. Surely that's the exact reason they are no
by corin_ 14y ago
> EU officials have always told Switzerland it cannot cherry pick only those parts of European policy it likes best.
Surely that's the exact reason they are not a member of the European Union, and exactly what they can do.
- bradleyjg 14y agoCertainly they can. But then the EU can quit treating Switzerland like a quasi-member, and instead treat them like a they do e.g. Turkey.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- Kudzu_Bob 14y agoWhy? Because they're not as multicultural as the rest of Europe? Because they dare to live in a way that suits themselves? The promoters of diversity ueber alles certainly are in touch with their inner totalitarian these days.
- bradleyjg 14y agoBecause it isn't worth the effort to bilaterally negotiate every little detail with tiny Switzerland. The EU has accommodated Switzerland's extreme go-it-alone ethos by offering membership in all but name. They did so out of a sense of shared history, affection, and mutual benefit. If the Switzerland is no longer interested they can truly go it alone. As for totalitarian, it's pretty rich to argue against free movement and in favor of rank nationalism and accuse your interlocutors of totalitarian tendencies.
- Kudzu_Bob 14y agoAristotle contended that justice consists of treating equals equally, and unequals unequally. You, on the other hand, want to treat Switzerland just like Turkey, even though the two countries are strikingly unequal.
- anigbrowl 14y agoAnalogies do not work that way! /Morbo You're using a very selective definition of 'equal.' Switzerland is certainly different from Turkey in various ways, but in this context they should be assessed on their degree of legal ties to the EU - treaties signed and complied with, for example. Arguably, Switzerland is getting far more benefits from the EU than Turkey despite neither of them being actual members.
- Kudzu_Bob 14y agoAnd they are making far better use of those benefits than Turkey ever could. For instance (since so many people here are fond of economic arguments), tiny Switzerland (population under eight million) has a GDP a bit over six hundred and thirty-five billion dollars. But even though Turkey has a population nine times greater, that country's GDP is only a hundred billion and change bigger than Switzerland's. If the Turks were as productive, their economy would be the equal of China's, with only a fraction of China's population. The Swiss literally get more done before their morning coffee break than the Turks do all day, maybe because they somehow manage to spend their time at useful tasks rather than blowing up Kurds, staging military coups, listening to crazy preachers, banning political parties, and so on. I'm glad the EU is helping them out, because they deserve it.
- anigbrowl 14y agoIn other words, I'm right so you change the subject to how lazy the Turks are. Well, Let's put Switzerland where Turkey is and vice-versa and see how well the Swiss do, shall we? Sorry, but your post comes off as pretty thinly-veiled racism, thanks to your highly selective use of statistics, dismissal of geography, and conflation of multiple historical events into the present.
- Kudzu_Bob 14y agoYour idea of putting the Swiss in Turkey is unworkable for the simple reason that nobody wants to go there. However, plenty of Turks move to Switzerland, where, I gather, their economic performance continues to be less than stellar. That crisp mountain air can only do so much, it seems.
- Gormo 14y agoIsn't Switzerland, on any meaningful account, far more "multicultural" than the rest of Europe? We're talking about what's arguably the most decentralized country in the world here; the one in which four different languages are dominant in different regions. And, aside from all that, artificially-enforced uniformity seems no less totalitarian than artificially-enforced diversity. Wouldn't you regard any legislative policy that attempts to direct the composition of civil society - toward any goal - to be inherently totalitarian? Certainly it at least creates a sort of circular reference in the mechanism of democracy: how can the state be held accountable to society if it has the power to manipulate society?
- Kudzu_Bob 14y agoSwitzerland is far more multicultural than the rest of Europe. Switzerland must embrace multiculturalism the way the rest of Europe has. Switzerland is the most decentralized country in the world. Switzerland is inherently totalitarian. Legislative policy that attempts to direct the composition of civil society is bad when citizens vote for it. Legislative policy that attempts to direct the composition of civil society is good when it is imposed on an unwilling citizenry by a foreign bureaucracy. Got it. Everything is much clearer now.
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- nickik 14y agoIn theory that is true, and it is very nice. The problem just is that the EU is all around Switzerland, they have a huge stick they can use. If there where more countrys like Switzerland it would be closer to theory.