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Article: Swiss decide whether to join the world Switzerland will vote today in the first of a lengthy series of referendums on whether it is prepared to end centuries of isolation and join the United Nations and European Union. Nicole Veash reports from Berne
- Article from:
- The Sunday Telegraph London
- Article date:
- March 4, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2001 The Sunday Telegraph London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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WHEN THE Pacific atoll Tuvalu joined the United Nations last
year, Switzerland became the only country in the world to remain
outside the family of nations.
With a spring and summer of referendums on joining both the UN
and the European Union approaching, the Swiss are now facing a
momentous juncture in their history - one which is dividing the
country as never before.
In a referendum today, proposed by a group of pro-EU voters, the
electorate will decide if conditions are right to begin immediate
discussions on joining. Joseph Deiss, the Swiss foreign minister,
believes that Switzerland has nothing to fear and everything to gain
from giving up its treasured isolationism, a mind set that has ...