The Swiss journalist Richard Werly, correspondent in Paris, is the guest of MEuropean icon.
franceinfo: You work for the major Zurich daily Blick, Richard Werley?
Richard Werley: Absolutely. This is quite new since many listeners, at least those who are interested in Switzerland, have known me for many years as a correspondent for the Time of Geneva, I officiated there as a correspondent in Paris, since September 2014. Today, I have therefore joined the French-speaking editorial staff of the daily Blick, which is the biggest circulation in Switzerland, and which, it should be noted, decided to launch a French-language online edition almost a year ago. And it works well.
And you published last March, France against itself, from the demarcation line of 1940 to the fractures of today, at Grasset. Today, a question, we never hear about Switzerland. Why ?
You know, yes, it’s a bit of a Swiss specialty. And it is generally associated with banks, of course with the financial center of Geneva. But more generally, Switzerland is not a country that likes to be talked about. Why ? First, because the country is doing well. In general, unfortunately, we talk more often about countries that are not doing well. Swiss prosperity is still there. Swiss democracy, which is a complex democracy with a part of direct democracy, a very strong decentralization at the level of the 26 cantons, and this system works well.
We envy you the votes…
Indeed, the last took place on May 15, and it allowed the Swiss people to express themselves favorably on the increase in resources of the Frontex agency. Since Switzerland, as you probably know, is not a member of the European Union, but it is a member of the Schengen area and as such, it contributes fully to Frontex, this agency for the protection of the external borders of the Union and the associated States.
On the other hand, with regard to the institutional relations between Switzerland and the European Union, there, it is much more complicated. It will be a year since the Federal Council decided not to proceed with a draft institutional agreement which should have established a new bilateral relationship between Switzerland and the EU. Today, this bilateral relationship is governed by a hundred complicated agreements that Brussels no longer wants. Suffice to say that for the moment, we are in a zone of tension, a zone of turbulence.
And I would say that Switzerland always prefers to work better at the local level. Let me explain: things are always going well with your neighbors who are Alsace and Baden-Württemberg…
Yes, absolutely. This is also the subject of fairly elaborate cooperation. There is an airport, Bâle-Mulhouse, which is a Franco-Swiss airport. Before, there were small administrative and tax squabbles, but they have been settled. Yes, I believe that cross-border cooperation at cantonal level, on the Swiss and regional side, on the French side and with the Länder on the German side, works well because it is a dimension that the Swiss system knows how to tame perfectly.
The difficulty of the so-called “institutional” relationship with the European Union is more complicated because, of course, the Swiss specificity – and it exists in many areas – is called into question de facto by an agreement with the European Union.
I will take just one example, which was perhaps the most problematic example, that of the competence of the judges of the European Court in Luxembourg. If there is a dispute, if there is a future problem, if this agreement were adopted and Switzerland were, for one reason or another, to find itself in a situation of legal conflict with the European Union, the Union would require the Court of Luxembourg to decide. And that, for Switzerland, is not acceptable.
And let’s not forget that Switzerland is a member of the Council of Europe, a very good member by the way?
Absolutely. It is an institution that is important for Switzerland in general, and that is explained with neutrality. When you are neutral, you have no choice but to rely on the multilateral system. This is really what Swiss neutrality is, moreover, there is also the UN headquarters in Geneva. It’s all complementary.
So for Switzerland, it is extremely important that there is strong multilateralism, that the UN is capable of settling conflicts. Unfortunately, once again, this corresponds little, if at all today, to this new cold war situation that we are experiencing.
France against itself, from the demarcation in 1940 to the fractures of today, by Richard Werly was published by Grasset.