As Gazeta.Ru reports, the Swiss voted in a referendum on two completely unrelated issues: the country's entry into the Schengen zone and the expansion of rights for homosexual couples. It is quite possible that it was the busy agenda of the referendum that ensured a high turnout by the country's standards – 56.8%. As a result, 54.6% of those who turned out voted for the country's accession to two European Union treaties – the Schengen and Dublin agreements. At the same time, 58% of voters spoke in favor of granting greater rights to homosexual couples.
No sociological service dared to predict the outcome of the vote on the first item. The predicted percentage of supporters of rapprochement with Europe was within the margin of statistical error. Moreover, as sociologists now say, on the day of the vote the slight advantage of integration supporters was completely neutralized. This makes the referendum results all the more convincing. There were 4% (or 250,000 votes) more supporters of Switzerland's participation in the Schengen and Dublin systems. There were more opponents of joining Schengen in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and more supporters in the French-speaking part.
According to the referendum results, from 2007 Switzerland will become the 16th country in the Schengen zone (currently it includes Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Finland, France, and Sweden). That is, in less than two years, Switzerland will abolish border controls with its European neighbors. Foreigners will no longer need to undergo border control to visit or transit through Switzerland. Customs control over the flow of goods arriving from Europe, as well as the baggage of tourists coming to Switzerland, will remain. The fact is, AP comments, that Switzerland is not part of the European Union, and therefore customs control points on the Swiss border will not be dismantled.
Access to the Dublin Agreement will provide Switzerland with access to the Eurodac database on illegal immigrants and wanted persons, and will facilitate contacts between Swiss law enforcement agencies and their colleagues from Europe.
As for the second question of the referendum, observers here speak of a convincing victory for sexual minorities. Of course, same-sex partners will not be equalized in rights with representatives of traditional orientation. They will not, for example, be allowed to adopt children or resort to artificial insemination. At the same time, according to the referendum results, homosexual couples will receive the same inheritance rights and rights to tax and pension calculation as heterosexual couples.
The leaders of the European Union welcomed the decision of Swiss citizens to join the Schengen Agreement. According to one of the EU leaders, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the Swiss decision will significantly expand freedom of movement in Europe. In a joint statement issued by European commissioners on Sunday evening, Switzerland is also thanked for creating additional opportunities to expand cooperation in the field of European security.
Observers believe that Sunday's referendum could well reverse the emerging trend of the collapse of the all-European space. Let us recall that this month, in referendums first in France and then in the Netherlands, these countries rejected the draft EU constitution, thereby slowing down, and as some observers believe, completely burying the further process of all-European integration. The Swiss referendum is certainly a step in the opposite direction. It is noteworthy that this country has traditionally shunned alliances and coalitions with its neighbors. Optimists hope that Switzerland has given a new impetus to Europe's stalled unification.