Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to begin talks on joining the European Union yesterday, showing once more the fierce independence of a country at the geographical, if not political, heart of Europe.
According to exit polls, some 77 per cent of voters rejected the "Yes to Europe" proposal put forward by a pro-European Socialist group.
The Swiss government urged Switzerland's 4.6 million voters to reject the plan. While committed in principle to EU membership, the government said the referendum posed "the wrong question at the wrong time".
The referendum was forced on them after the "New Swiss Europe Movement" collected 100,000 signatures, as required by law.
In campaign materials, the group, backed by the Socialist Party, said a yes vote would simply open the door to "an informed debate" about joining the EU, followed by a referendum "at the earliest in 2006".
Yesterday's rejection of the proposal mirrors a referendum result in 1992 when over half of the electorate rejected joining the European Economic Area, which groups the EU and its key trading partners.
The French-speaking minority in western Switzerland, which makes up one-fifth of the 7 million population, have always shown itself to be pro-European. But even French-speaking Geneva sided with the 62 per cent German-speaking majority that is more sceptical of closer ties with the rest of Europe. That influence was reflected in yesterday's decisive result.
Business leaders had backed the government's call to reject the proposal, saying that Switzerland did not need to join the EU for economic success.
"It is often the outsiders who are not a part of a big continental market, like Japan, Singapore and Switzerland, who enjoy the biggest business success," a business consultant, Mr Peter Huggler, wrote in the Neue Zurcher Zeitung. "Taiwan, an unprecedented business success story, does not have diplomatic relations with many of its trade partners", he added.
In 1999, Switzerland reached bilateral free trade agreements with the EU in areas like transport, labour and agriculture. But Swiss companies, once enthusiastic advocates of EU membership, have cooled to the idea. Banks are increasingly worried that the EU's determination to crack down on tax evasion would force them to end their traditional banking secrecy provisions.
The Swiss economy is in better shape than many of its EU neighbours. Last year there was a record budget surplus of over CHF4 billion (£2.2 billion) and inflation and unemployment are running at 2 per cent.
With the Swiss franc running high against the euro, a majority of Swiss voters doubt whether joining the EU would provide any economic benefits for Switzerland.
