To keep a sharp eye on the Swiss mission in Brussels

Politicise for one’s own country and not for foreign powers!

by Dr iur. Marianne Wüthrich

On 17th of June people are going to vote on the popular initiative “International treaties before the people” at a federal and cantonal level. The initiative intends that important agreements with foreign countries undergo the compulsory referendum (requiring a majority of people and a majority of cantons to agree). What only very few may know: In recent years the EDA (Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and other parts of the Federal Administration have settled down in Brussels with a large apparatus and have ensured that Switzerland has become increasingly adjusted to the EU in all areas of life and legislation. That is why this obligatory referendum on the treaties is necessary: so that the Swiss people can better keep watch over what our diplomats and officials are propelling in Brussels.

“The Swiss mission is a haven of peace in lively Brussels” Three dozen officials and diplomats are working here quietly. “They make sure that Switzerland does not drift too far off the EU” as the spokesman of the Swiss representation in Brussels, Daniel Klingele, admits. (“Between peaks and chasms – Europe, a phase-out model?”) SWR2 (German South West Radio 2) Radio Academy: Future of the State (4) 26.5.2012, 8:30 am)

... that Switzerland doesn’t drift too far off the EU

The Diplomatic Mission of Switzerland at the EU in Brussels is located next to the European Parliament. A look into the website of the EDA (www.eda.admin.ch) reveals that indeed around 40 diplomats and members of the Federal Administration “represent Swiss interests towards the EU” – or promote the closer alignment of Switzerland with the EU. So it is the responsibility of the mission, “to coordinate and prepare visits of Federal Administration members to Brussels” Pardon me, what business do Swiss officials have in Brussels? The staff “participates in the bilateral negotiations with the EU”, “does follow-up to the agreements, coordinates the participation of Switzerland in European programmes and takes part in meetings of EU experts and working groups.”

Daniel Klingele illuminates this follow-up work: “If the EU passes and introduces new laws, it has consequences for our economy.” “And in order to prevent possible disadvantages, we check whether it makes sense to introduce these laws or similar laws in Switzerland to avoid any trading obstacles” (SWR2, 26 May 2012).

Daniel Klingele must know what he is talking about since he is 2nd deputy mission head and press spokesman. To put it bluntly what he is says: we Swiss leave it to a handful of EU annexion fanatics in Brussels to decide “whether it makes sense to introduce this law or a similar laws in Switzerland” and when the relevant law appears in the parliament later on, we – and probably also some parliamentarians believe – the submission came from political circles inside Switzerland.

“According to a study by the University of Bern nearly two-thirds of all Swiss Federal laws are influenced by EU directives and regulations. In the area of food law and trade-related matters Switzerland takes over EU legislation almost one to one. The confederates call this process “Autonomous Reenactment.” (SWR2 from 26 May 2012 on the study “The Europe-compatibility of Swiss commercial law: convergence and divergence” by the Institute for European and International Economic Law by Prof. Thomas Cottier, University of Berne.)

“Autonomous reenactment, because we do it just autonomously” (spokesman Daniel Klingele according to SWR 2)

Fair enough, if by “we” he denotes parliament and people. But far from it: “We” – those who transform EU law into Swiss law “autonomously” and continuously – are the three dozen EU bigots in the Brussels mission, that endorse their well paied jobs by their submissiveness. And they peddle the line to the Federal Council as well as to the National Parliament and to the Council of States believing that it is essential not to miss the train into a promising future. What kind of future – into Euroland?

 If one looks at the portfolios of the Swiss EU Mission, actually in every life and legal area a Swiss is standing to ready in Brussels. In the economic sector, to mention just a few examples, from tax, monetary and financial affairs to veterinary, safety of food up to health care, pharmaceuticals, consumer protection, social policy and further on to cohesion, regional policy and agriculture.

The so-called Department of Economy and Finance covers half of our life. Now we can imagine for example more concretely, how the Prevention Act – which is apt to destroy our solid, federally organized health care system by imposing foreign ideas (partly also from overseas) – came cross the border: Officials from the Federal Administration, from the BAG (Swiss Federal Office for Health) make their pilgrimage to Brussels and are “coordinated” there by the concerned mission secretary with the appropriate EU officials  Later on the law is pushed on the Swiss parliament as ssential because EU-compliant. In fact with respect to prevention, there is no need to “autonomously reenact” one Iota.

On the subject of taxes and currencies: the flat rate withholding tax agreements with individual EU States such as Germany, Italy or Great Britain, by means of which our members of parliament eagerly shift money to those States, that consequently can reduce their national debt and their currency crisis, would have to be brought before the Swiss people to vote on, in case the people initiative “International treaties before the people” will be adopted. An Italian politician, who wanted to be elected recently, told his electorate, he would go and fetch the billions from Switzerland and with that money Italy would then finance their economic growth. Switzerland is not a dairy cow allowing to be milked by those states, which can’t control their financial crisis! Obviously we the people must stop  our parliamentarians from letting themselves being induced to allow agreements originating from current – and future (!) – OECD lists, which are highly detrimental to our own interests. Switzerland, which is a full member and pays its fees on time, was never involved in drawing up these lists. In addition the OECD publications have no force of law, but are mere recommendations to the member states. (The SPS – Swiss Socialist Party – which wants to completely repeal bank-client confidentiality in Switzerland and abroad has to be confronted with the question, how the extensive welfare state desired by them is to be financed if the financial centre of Switzerland is stagnating). (Or does their secret plan include that the Switzerland should be dashed to the ground and worn down for the EU-annexion?)

As we learned earlier, the mission staff is also involved in the bilateral negotiations with the EU, that is to say, in this Department the agricultural agreement is prepared, which would lead to an unprecedented number of farms closing down: according to a statement by Federal Councillor Doris Leuthart the number of farms would be divided in half! Let’s hope that this agreement will never become reality – if it does, it is is a clear case for a compulsory referendum in accordance with the popular initiative “international treaties before the people”.

Adoption of EU constructs preferably outside our legal system

Cohesion and regional politics are also pursued in the department of economy and finances in Brussels: Cohesion of Switzerland with the EU? The regional policy of the EU is suitable particularly to plough up Switzerland because their instruments mostly come from behind, outside of our judicial system and behind the back of the electorate: The “spatial conception of Switzerland” with its metropolitan regions with which the nation states should be dissolved, the intergovernmental programs for the Regio Lake of Constance and other fictitious “clusters” across frontiers – everything without any legal basis, everywhere “participative processes” into which one member of the governing council per canton and a local councilor per municipality are integrated without having received a corresponding mandate from the sovereign, not to mention the nature parks which divest the municipalities of their autonomy.

A whole lot of foreign stuff, which has no place in our differentiated direct-democratic and federalistic state structure. There is nothing “to understand autonomously”. We, the citizens are required to provide for lawful conditions again!

Beside the department of economy and finances the Swiss mission in the EU runs a department “sectoral policies” in which an extensive spectrum of extremely drastic EU regulations are prepared for the adoption into Swiss law, from transport, climate and environment via education and research up to energy policy, telecommunications and media. One need only recall the planned conversion of the EU flora-fauna-habitat directive into Swiss nature parks or the enforced conformity of our good universities by the Bologna regime with a disastrous levelling down of the university education that will have fatal effects for whole student generations. All that beyond the federalist legal system of Switzerland: “In other areas like research, environment, education or MEDIA Switzerland takes part in the European project, whereas she directly takes part in the corresponding EU programs.” (www.eda.admin.ch – dossiers) The educational and research programs in which the Federal Council eagerly wanted to take part, by the way, are parts of the bilateral agreement I (research agreement) or the bilateral agreement II (educational agreement). These international treaties would have had to be submitted to the compulsory referendum as well, if the regulation, which will come to the vote on the 17th of June, had been already in force at that time.

The staff of the Department of Economy and Finances is certainly dealing with the planned electricity market agreement which nobody wants except the global trusts because it would destroy our small-scale organized electricity system, the power stations in cantons and municipalities. Such an agreement would be also have to be submitted to the compulsory referendum.

Where do the cantons stand?

The cantons are “represented” in Switzerland’s EU mission by one single man representing the conference of the canton governments – a true farce! 26 Swiss cantons, every single one a sovereign constituent state of the Swiss federal state with comprehensive federalist competences, every single one unique with its own cultural and legal arrangement – rural cantons and town cantons, cantons in the Swiss plateau, in the Alps and in the Jura, some of which are large in area and inhabitants and other that are quite small: They all decide on their own affairs according to Federal Constitution. It is out of the question that the Federal Administration staff in Brussels interferes with cantonal competences. It is also out of the questions that Federal Councilor Widmer-Schlumpf “discusses” an altereation of company taxes with the EU superiors.

The only phrase she is permitted to say if she opens her mouth is:”I cannot discuss that with you because the company taxes lie in the sole competence of the Swiss cantons.”

No foreign judges

The mission’s department “Legal issues Schengen” is led by Daniel Klingele cited above who sees his main task – as we have learned – in letting EU law enter into our legal system. To boost his status towards the EU bureaucrats, Mr Klingele is called “Minister” – a title which we do not know in Switzerland. Our federal councilors are no ministers, but heads of departments, and surely a diplomat of the FDFA is no minister. Apart from the “police and justice cooperation” according to Schengen/Dublin where – as everybody knows – nothing really works, the department of legal issues deals with “institutional and legal issues in general, with the Court of law of the European Union” as well.

It can be assumed that here the framework agreement claimed by the EU commission is prepared for automatic transfer of EU law into Swiss law – a clear case for a compulsory referendum of people and cantons as this requires the national initiative “International treaties before the people”. The same would have been valid for Schengen/Dublin. As far as  the ECJ is concerned: We have actually nothing to do with their jurisdiction, right? In any case, the Swiss courts are independent of the EU courts’ jurisdiction and have to remain independent.

Foreign affairs and security policy under Brussels’ command – Where in fact are we at?

What is the function of a department “political affairs, security, communication” in the court yard of the EU? That remains in the dark.

There is a department “security, defence, human security, the Middle East”, a department “military affairs”, a department “extension, neighborhood politics, CIS, Arabian peninsula, human rights, freedom of movement of peoples” – where in fact are we at?

Sovereign Switzerland has to shape her  foreign affairs independently. Attentive citizens have noticed for a long time that the FDFA joins the positions of the EU with their statements to problem countries often very promptly and compliantly.

What does Swiss diplomacy have to negotiate with the EU with respect to the Middle East, the CIS or the Arabian peninsula? An independent foreign policy of Switzerland is an indispensable prerequisite for the offering of good offices as a neutral country free of any alliance.

Security, defence, military affairs are every sovereign nation state’s very own affairs, where the EU has nothing to interfere with. Just as little as the FDFA staff has to fraternize with the EU in these issues. The FDFA staff with missing democratic disposition and obviously without control by the heads of departments believes to be entitled to go different ways. Is this already the generation, which has grown up without historical lessons, or does corruption play a role? “The cooperation also applies to foreign affairs. Switzerland makes an active contribution to the support of stability and prosperity within and beyond Europe, while she provides suitable means (extension contribution, assistance to Eastern European countries) and participates in peace support missions (EULEX Kosovo, EUFOR-Althea and civil police mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina).”

The Swiss people could not vote on the “peace support missions” mentioned here. These are, by the way, military operations of the EU within the scope of their common security and defense policy (CSDP) in which Switzerland takes part under the command of foreign generals. It goes without saying that the Swiss participation strikingly contradicts the neutrality principle. The Swiss people who recently expressed their wish for maintenance of the neutrality to 95 percent (see Current Concerns No. 23) would have most probably  rejected such “peace support missions” in case of a compulsory referendum.

Conclusion

The excessive endeavor of our Federal Councillors and their diplomats that could be observed for many years now, to meet with all the wishes of the EU principalities as much as possible – often even to preempt them – contradicts their constitutional mandate to exert themselves first and foremost for the Swiss interests. By the way, “Swiss interests” don’t primarily mean the interests of the global trusts, which want to increase their profits in Switzerland, but the interests of the Swiss population in financially stable Switzerland which keeps her budget in order and can offer the high standard of our social state to the people also in future (instead giving away billions abroad), the interests of our SME in keeping their obvious importance for our economic location, the interests of our adolescents who want to make a respectable apprenticeship or respectable university studies by which they will became able to take their place  as a citizen, employed persons and as mothers and fathers, interests of the vast majority of the Swiss population in maintaining our federalist and direct-democratic state structure and armed neutrality. The mission of Switzerland in the EU must comply with the precepts or it is to be terminated.

The money thereby saved could be transferred to the Swiss Red Cross. •