Salü miteinander!<br>Let me, as a Swiss/British
national, i.e. someone who has lived in a central European
but non EU country for almost 25 years, add some
comments.<br>Roughly 5 years ago the Swiss nation had to choose
whether on not to enter the European Economic Area which
was the wish of the nation's parliament.<br>There was
a mass of 'information' presented by the government
and industry via all the usual media channels to
convince the population of the massive advantages but most
of all the tragic consequences of not entering this
closer union with the EU. <br>Nevertheless, the
electorate 'foolishly' decided to disregard the government's
warnings and by a small majority voted to stay as they
were, i.e. independent of the EU.<br>In these 5 years
since this decision none of the predicted 'disasters'
took place. Things carried on as they always had,
including trade with the EU, our main trading partner. For
a while unemployment rose as it did in other
European countries and has since fallen again to normal.
Interest rates moved around a bit as they always have in
the past but nothing to write home about.<br>My
conclusions:<br>Either the politicians, university professors and
captains of industry were deliberately misguiding us or
their ability to predict future events was completely
faulted. I suspect a combination of both. <br>Concluding I
would say – Closer ties with a federal Europe, for UK
or Switzerland, is a political decision. Trade and
industry will look after themselves without interference
from government.