It depends on the terms of the deal. The bilateral agreements signed between the EU and Switzerland in 2000 specifically mandate, amongst other things, free movement of people in return for tariff-free trade. After those agreements, Switzerland agreed to join the Schengen Area in 2005, further codifying visa-free, borderless travel between the EU and Switzerland, something that makes sense since Switzerland is surrounded by EU member states. It also permits travellers in those states to travel through Switzerland freely, thus reducing transit time for people and cargo.
Free movement between the EU and China wouldnât make much sense since thereâs zero geographic commonality. You canât walk, drive, catch a ferry or jump on a train across a border between the EU and China, because there isnât one; youâd have to travel through three or four non-EU member states to get into the EU by foot/car/rail/etc, and travelling by boat via the Suez or around the Cape of Good Hope would take substantially longer than hopping on a ferry. Yes, visa-free travel would permit more Chinese citizens to travel to, and to live and work in the EU, and vice versa, but do you really think the Chinese authorities would wear it? Allowing anyone from 26 countries to just wander into China relatively unchecked?
Opinions matter too. Brexit could be the best thing EVAR on paper, but I still donât want the UK to leave something as forward looking and optimistic as a pan-European union. And it is events thus far[1] that have confirmed to myself that I made the right choice to vote Remain.
[1] cf weakening of Sterling, increased hate crime, domestic political instability, commercial uncertainty, et cetera.
Christoph Blocher was Bundesrat - he was against it, but his predecessor initialized it.
Out of pure fairness he supported this too. Today he still says - Schengen failed horribly.
And it does.
Since I can remember and this is may be 38 years ago, travel across borders in Europe was for me as a swiss never a problem. What about you, did Schengen change your live ?
This example is only for illustration. Of course can you have free-trade without out movement.
On this planet I know only two (2) things that are for sure:
stupidity
death
Everything else, you can decide /negotiate on, right ?
Such BS from the EU like NO NEGOTIATION.
poor people, youâre disappointed.
Did it differently than you have expected.
It shows size, if you can lose
The alcoholics Jean-Claude Juncker 1 min - does alcohol influence your behavior - your capabilities to cope with difficult circumstandes
Why does a person with a drugs problem lead ⌠how many countries ??
And this is all initialized by the people who do not accept a democratic vote
In Switzerland we are used to lose a vote and walk on with head held high - get the best out of it.
Even if we do not agree.
This happens several times a year to me.
I have. Some good, some bad, I think. Itâs worth drawing a distinction between arguments against the EU: separate them into the EU is a bad idea and the EU is a bad implementation. So âthe EU enforces standards on how bent our bananas are allowed to beâ is against the implementation, and âthe EU wants to create a United States of Europeâ is against the idea. (The difference is that to fix an implementation argument you could change how the EU works. To fix an idea argument all you can do is abolish the EU.) Skedâs implementation arguments are mostly bad, I think; sure, you can find examples of EU regulation that you donât agree with (for any value of âyouâ), but there are also a bunch which I think most people would agree with and I personally am very unconfident that they would happen under a UK government. His arguments against the idea of the EU â I donât personally agree with them, but theyâre not wrong, theyâre just a difference of opinion. Which is fine, and I have no issue with someone saying âI donât want to be in the EU because I donât like the idea of being part of a United States of Europeâ and voting Leave on that basis. My disagreements are all with people saying âI vote Leave because then there wonât be so many regulationsâ or âI vote Leave because our jobs are being taken by people from other countriesâ or âI vote Leave because then we can spend ÂŁ350m a week extra on the NHSâ, i.e., bullshit. Sked largely isnât saying stuff like that; we shall agree to disagree, but thatâs not a problem, and he seems intellectually mostly honest. The ârebuttalâ paper does call out some actual lies, though, which is a bit worrying, but equally that rebuttal paper is pretty petulantly written.
Actually, things like increased hate speech and hate crimes are being perpetrated, by all accounts, by the people who voted Leave.
Also, please show me your absolute undeniable proof that Juncker is an alcoholic, and what drug problems he has. Otherwise youâre engaging in character assassination, and thatâs low.
the Euro for example brings down a lot.
There is a movie, 90 min about the money per se and why the Euro must have failed.
It was /is obvious for everyone who studied finance - still it was pushed through and as Alan Sked said, that was and will not be the only mistake where they ignore democracy
Unfortunately the brexit result has been seen by many of the âlittle Englandersâ amongst us as an excuse to express racist views which is of course inexcusable.
We have more in common than we have differences: I would argue that Britain is a much better place today than it used to be because of the influence of those who have moved here from other countries, food is an obvious example by no means the only one. Letâs unite against the common enemy Apple users.
Donât take that last sentence seriously, I am no fan of Apple for several reasons, but if anybody chooses to use Apple that is entirely up to them and I would not berate anybody for making that choice.
The trouble with this is that it assumes the EU is reformable. But itâs not. If 43 years of us trying doesnât convince you, then just look at how much reform Cameron was able to get when he was actually threatening to leave. If we had voted Remain (easily interpreted as âOK, the UK is happy with the status quoâ), how much leverage would we have?
If the EU is irreformable, the distinction between a bad implementation and a bad idea disappears, because you have to vote on the basis of the EU we have, not the one weâd like to have in our dreams.
Misuse of alcoholic drinks is the excessive consumption of alcoholic drinks. Alcoholism is a disease usually leading to alcohol addiction. A symptom of alcoholism can be excessive consumption (i.e. âalcohol abuseâ), but excessive consumption does not necessarily imply alcoholism.
Alcohol.
Well, you can defend his âbehaviorâ - I will not. If you have to go in front of TV cameras and you still can not control your consumption - this must have its roots.
Juncker drunk - Google says 132.000 Ergebnisse
Sorry, Google can not cope with it, neither can I.
I translated mine roughly but from german to english for you.
This YOU was not addressed to you personally - sorry my fault.
I meant a part of this 48% who lost and cannot cope with the result.
I envy you britian to express yourself so well. 100% agree.
Just lately an Austrian politican was also invited to talk about brexit and the outcome for Switzerland.
Swiss pro-EU always say: if we are outside, we cannot change the EU.
The austrian explained (country size is equal to ours) we have a 2% vote in the EU.
Just 2%
And beside the EU is not reformable as the history tells and basically, be honest who rules ?
France and Germany.
One more thing, the salary of an EU guy is higher than the one from your premier - WTF !
I read the article Sil referenced to.
I also thought when Alan spoke about % that this depends on who calculated this.
Never trust a diagram unless you faked it, right
But on the bigger picture - I agree with Alan Sked.
Switzerland would lose completely its democracy if we would join this league of force hungry gentleman and women
Exactly. Cameron was able to get a guarantee for his buddies in London who made some money with Londons Financial License. Thats all he cared about. We just have to look at his nepotistic chrony list for the house of Lords to see how sick the political system is that we have in place.
Hopefully we will get a general election soon though my worry is that it will happen too soon while Theresa May has the new face advantage.
I really donât care about the EU referendum but I hope we will leave the Article 50 trigger for a good 4 years to see what happens after the general elections in France and Germany. Theres a chance the faces representing those countries will be gone
Thank you for clarifying and apologising, but your statement is still unfair. Do you think the Leave supporters would have remained silent were the result reversed?
