20 years of ‘no’ to the EU

Published on 3 December 2012 at 16:42

Christoph Bloche

Almost 20 years ago, on December 6, 1992, Swiss referendum voters rejected their country's membership of the European Economic Area. The vote completely blocked EU membership, but did not prevent the signing of several bilateral agreements between the Union and the Helvetic Confederation.

On December 2, during a supporters' rally, the leader of the UDC (Union of the Democratic Centre, traditionally conservative), Christoph Blocher, said that "the situation is as dangerous as in 1992." According to him, the Federal Council, the Swiss executive, is about to try to take the country into the EU.

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