A view from Non-EU Switzerland, sort of

[Hibbyradge]

Dear voting people of Britain,

In case my facebook filter bubble isn't quite absolute, and some among you may still harbour uncertainties about tomorrow's referendum vote, please may I have your attention for two minutes:

As a Swiss citizen, with first-hand experience of what it's like not to be part of the EU, can I heartily recommend that you vote to Remain?

You may have heard my country touted as a prime example of how it's possible to have your cake and eat it.

Well, it isn't.

Twenty-odd years ago the Swiss voted against becoming a member of the EEA (the European Economic Area), seduced by ideas of "sovereignty", "not wanting to be ruled by foreign powers", and anyway, "we're bloody brilliant and don't need the EU". Well. Foregoing access to the EU market soon turned out to be a costly mistake, and we started negotiating a deal with the EU that would give us access to the single market after all.

Those negotiations were successful in the end, but guess what? They took ages, and they came with strings attached: we also have to allow Free Movement to EU migrants, and contribute to Europe financially. Which is a fair deal, I think, but we might as well have voted to be in - because, you know, then we'd have a say?

And we're currently jeopardising our deal, and our economy, once again. 2 years ago, the Swiss voted in favour of restricting EU immigration, in contravention to our agreements with the EU, and once the corresponding laws are put into effect, we look likely to lose our special status and the economic benefits. Regardless of the outcome, EU companies are already starting to look elsewhere to invest, because you just don't know what else the Swiss voters might come up with next. And it's not just about exports and investments: it only took the EU a few months to kick us out of the Horizon2020 research programme, for instance.

You can't have your cake and eat it. And nobody can seriously contemplate going it alone in today's economy. Keep your place at the table, stay in a position where you can actually make things better within the EU, because us Swiss can't.

(Also, thank you for having me in your lovely country. Please keep it that way.)

[HappyAsHellas]

This is from the Greek people.

Open Letter to the UK citizens about the June 2016 Referendum

Dear British voters,

United Kingdom joined the European Community in 1973 and it is worth to mention that the people have not been asked prior signing the membership agreement. Only two years later, in 1975 you decided in a referendum if you want to stay in the European Community, which was approved by 66 percent of the voters.

The basic idea, as it was explained to the people in Europe, was a community of European nations infriendship, solidarity, mutual benefit and democracy: Basic European Values.

Unfortunately, these inviting promises proved to be false or failed. There is nothing about freedom, solidarity or friendship in the European Union. The European Union has proven to act on behalf of the interest of banks, multi-national enterprises and groups in the shadow, as advised by professional think-tanks and lobbyists, not in favour of its people. In fact, the European Union is an economic union with a common market (without internal borders) which enables a free circulation of money, goods and people/workforce, and an ongoing process to harmonise business standards. The European Union is designed as a cartel and typically, there is a lack of democratic structures and processes: democracy becomes a disturbing factor.
Democracy, and especially direct democracy, is against any fiber of this European Union

The peoples’ vote got lost in the bureaucracy of the European Union. The European Union is driven by technocrats and an agenda which will lead to the United States of Europe shortly, the loss of the national sovereignty and identity of the European countries. The national parliaments have already delegated to a large extend their responsibilities and sovereignty to the European Institutions and consequently the national voting becomes more and more irrelevant.

The European Parliament, the only institution in the European Union the people voted for, has a more or less decorative function, it cannot legislate as we know it from national parliaments. The European Commission, which is in fact the European government, is not elected. It consists of delegates from the national governments. As Horst Seehofer – Prime Minister of Bavaria – put it: Those who are elected do not decide and those who decide are not elected.

European Union has a track history of ignoring the vote of the people. Referenda are only welcome if they approve the official policy of the European Union. If the people didn’t vote as requested, the governments used to arrange an information campaign and repeat the referendum until the outcome is convenient or the referendum result is ignored or twisted.

Denmark voted in the referendum in June 1992 against the Maastricht treaty, the re-negotiated version was approved in a second referendum in May 1993.
In 2001 Irish voters rejected the Treaty of Nice, in a second referendum 2002 it was approved.

France voted in May 2005 against the proposed European Constitution. Referenda would have also to be held in Czech, Denmark, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and the UK. As the risk of more refusals was too high, the European Union decided to modify the text and sign them as treaty by the national governments, this is what we have today as Treaty of Lisbon.

We, the Greek people, voted in July 2015 against further austerity measures required by the Troika, and our vote was ignored. Prior the referendum even highest officials of the European Union warned the Greek people not to vote NO as this would lead to a Grexit, even this is not ruled in the European treaties.

In March 2016, the European Union signed a deal with Turkey on the migration crisis. Part of the deal is that the European Union takes over a quota of migrants and distributes them by a defined key within the European countries. Hungary has announced to hold a referendum on the enforced migration, this referendum was condemned as an undemocratic measure.

Some time ago, the Dutch people voted in a referendum against the EU-Ukraine agreement. EU officials mentioned in several interviews, that obviously referenda are dangerous and a threat against the European Union. Truly, referenda are dangerous to today’s E.U., but not dangerous to the people of Europe. In the meantime, there are serious discussions to prohibit referenda within the European Union in general in order to avoid further conflicts.

Even in Switzerland, the country with the most enhanced practice of referenda, the politicians fear more than anything else the vote of the people, as it may destroy their plans in case the people do not vote as they recommend them.

The European Alliance stop-TTIP is an initiative of more than 500 organizations all over Europe and has collected more than 3.4 million signatures in order to stop TTIP and CETA. Those agreements are considered as a threat to democracy, environment, consumers and labour standards. But the European Commission ignores them…

Dear friends of democracy in the UK,

We want to express our solidarity as we know that you have to take a historical decision for your country and for your people, as we did last summer.

On 23rd June 2016 you will have to decide in a referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union. A referendum is a direct democratic element, the highest expression of the peoples will, a privilege and a rare opportunity in the European Union.

You have now the historical chance to mark your national independence day and stop the further transformation of Europe into a European dictatorship.

Democracy is the key to freedom, peace and prosperity; it protects human rights and ensures respect and tolerance.
Our thoughts are with you, we send you best wishes from Greece for a democratic voting,

Signatories t0 the Open Letter to the UK citizens

[Pretty Boy]

I liked this from Germany personally:



"Dear Britain, if you stay in the EU...

We will acknowledge the Wembley goal.
We won't make any more jokes about Prince Charles' ears.
We won't wear sun cream on the beach in solidarity with your sunburn.
We will go without our goalkeeper at the next penalty shootout to make it more exciting.
We will introduce tea time, with buckets on the beaches of Majorca.
We will willingly provide the villain in every Bond film.
We'll start "ticking" like you and put our clocks back by an hour.
We'll put through an EU directive which forbids foam on our beer.
We'll reserve sun loungers around the pool for you with our towels.
Jogi Löw will guard your crown jewels.
We will come to your Queen's 100th birthday."

[Hibbyradge]

I liked this from Germany personally:



"Dear Britain, if you stay in the EU...

We will acknowledge the Wembley goal.






Vote LEAVE!