The FT wrote: > The fact > that the Swiss have expressed such trust in the SVP means they want a > change in policy. The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Bern says the party's > anti-foreigner campaign, in which asylum seekers were portrayed as > criminals and drug dealers, seems to have found favour with more voters > than it offended.
The SVP's success has more to do with the EU than with immigrants. It's a hint from voters that the government should finally withdraw its EU accession request. Considering that the SVP is the only major party that is opposed to joining the EU, and more than 50% of Swiss voters are opposed to joining the EU, it is rather surprising that the SVP _only_ got 27% of the votes. This shows that many anti-EU voters either abstained from voting or voted for a center-right/leftist (pro-EU) party, just to avoid voting SVP. In other words, the SVP's anti-asylum PR rather _put off_ voters than attracting them -- contrary to the British PR. Also, the economic decline in Switzerland is due to the bilateral agreements with the EU rather than due to asylum seekers. So the title "Anti-EU feeling grows in Europe" would be more appropriate, applying even to EU countries (especially the small ones, after the EU reforms tend to favor the large countries), but _they_ hardly/rarely get the chance to express that in votes/referenda. --- Ed Weick wrote: > A couple of points, Keith. One is that the Swiss have never been noted for > their treatment of foreigners. I spent about ten days in Geneva some thirty > years ago. The people who were making the beds and cleaning the toilets in > the hotel I was staying in were Italians. I seem to recall that they had no > rights of citizenship and no hope of getting them. Yeah right, a country with 20% foreigners (about 50% in Geneva) --compared to ~5% EU average-- and the highest percentage of asylum seekers _must_ have "never been noted for their treatment of foreigners" ! (Hint: Foreigners in Switzerland fare better than many Canadians in Canada -- I guess that's why so many foreigners are here after all...) The claim that Italians here have "no rights of citizenship and no hope of getting them" is also hogwash. FYI, many Italians _don't_want_ CH citizenship anyway, because they prefer to go back to retire in Italy where it's warmer and where their Swiss francs buy much more. Perhaps Canadians should give their Natives and homeless (not to mention foreigners) some decent rights first, before complaining about foreigners' rights in CH. At least get a bit informed before spreading silly stereotypes. Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword "igve". _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
