There is no need to advertise for stability in any area. A France incapable of supporting a lasting government, a Belgium traditionally without a government at all, a United States presided over by an uneducated and delusional egotist, the resurgence of a Nazi party in Germany, conflicts almost everywhere, global warming: we would like to get out of it.
Switzerland is a stable raft on this raging ocean: an unemployment rate of 2.4%, inflation below 2%, public debt at 33% of GDP, reduced by an annual budget surplus of 0.8%, GDP growth close to 1%, a trade balance at 8%. When all the indicators are green, malicious explanations arise. Swiss prosperity would only be the other side of a vast money laundering enterprise. This would not be a virtue but a well-concealed vice.
The reason is very different: political institutions function well because no one can take away power: it is an acracy where the ultimate sovereign is the people who can do and undo everything that the executive and legislature wrongly undertake. . It is impossible to designate the sole person responsible for any decision whatsoever. No one is wrong since no one decides. Explaining this system to a stranger is an impossible task. He is firmly convinced that a sort of republican monarchy is better than power for the people. He believes that a member of the elite knows more than the usual proletarian.
We should ask ourselves not what the EU can bring us, but rather what we would bring it
Jacques Neirynck
Switzerland is therefore an example that we are not following and which should be exported better. Recent discussions between the European Union and Bern seem to be leading to a form of understanding, hard-won by the latter’s migratory drive. However, Swiss prosperity depends on essential immigration: on the one hand, a fertility rate two-thirds that of generational renewal implies a strict minimum of immigration of 40,000 per year; on the other hand, a cutting-edge economy can only prosper by draining talent from across the continent. 40% of the permanent resident population aged 15 or over is a migrant. This rate exceeds 65% in the canton of Geneva. There is no other country that is so open and dependent on this influx, while guarding itself against its necessity.
Of course there is a far-right party whose business is to exploit the fear of this immigration. There will be a popular consultation on the agreement with the Twenty-Seven. This is why the Swiss negotiators in Brussels have proven to be so intransigent: not based on a reality but to anticipate an acratic fantasy.
Although government by the people is not a panacea, it is a pragmatic solution with positive economic effects. The model would be worth exporting. We should ask ourselves not what the EU can bring us, but rather what we would bring it. The population is unfortunately still far from this missionary spirit in politics. And yet, even a stable country could benefit from a more stable world.
