The EU-Swiss fallout shows the UK is right to go it alone

Switzerland has walked out of partnership negotiations with an intransigent EU. Britain was right to Brexit.

Following seven years of intense negotiations between Switzerland and the European Union to formulate a new trading agreement, the Swiss have walked out, leaving an uncertain future between the two neighbours. Has this episode shown the limits of the EU’s approach to negotiations? Switzerland and the EU are closely integrated, with Switzerland being the EU’s fourth-largest trading partner. With more than 120 bilateral agreements covering issues from trade to freedom of movement, an outsider may be forgiven for thinking that Switzerland was part of the EU. As the EU had just finished the higher-profile – and at times bumpy – UK-EU trade agreement following Brexit this year, hopes have been high that talks with Switzerland would go more smoothly. The sudden rejection from Switzerland has shattered that assumption. The EU, diminished by the United Kingdom’s departure, continues to harbour ambitions for further expansion. Switzerland would appear to be an obvious candidate to join the club, with its close geography, liberal philosophies and wealth. Yet despite decades of EU political pressure to bolster European unity, it has failed to fully persuade the Swiss, who sought instead to achieve the best of both worlds – a close economic partnership while remaining strictly politically independent.