Not in the EU, why do you keep pushing this lie? It was their choice to sign up to Schengen. The UK never has.
Very true, but we are two and half years down the line and far more informed, and yet, for whatever reason, the mood is very much one of people wanting to leave on WTO rules
Partly in the EU. AKA "in the EU". This isn't rocket surgery bud nor is it lying. "The UK never has." Now do, "The UK never would have". Show us what a real lie is.
True. We did sign up for Schengen. It was one of our multiple referenda. I think most people are happy the way it's worked out, even if it has its drawbacks. Most things have their drawbacks. The EU has its drawbacks, probably plenty of them. It's just that on balance, you're better off in than out in my view. Yes, there wouldn't be any point in Leavers even mentioning Switzerland. They won't stomach a backstop, so God knows what they'd do about all the multiple agreements that Switzerland has with the EU. Switzerland is nowhere near Brexitty enough for them.
Depends a little on how willing the EU is to maintain its current trade balance with the UK compared to how much it wants to punish the UK for its disobedience. Which way do you believe the EU will flop?
Is now a good time to ask what the key stumbling block to implementing the WA and leaving on 29/3, something which you really want. I am just resigned to it and want to make the best of it, so don’t share your enthusiasm but am open to hearing positive news
Well, there are border people at the border. They check your car and passport if they feel so inclined and they often do. So there is as much border security as the Swiss want to have. Switzerland can't change things in the EU, but it changes plenty of things in Switzerland. Why do you think we vote on about 12 different things every year? But we don't operate in a vacuum. Accommodation has to be found on all sorts of issues with the EU and with anyone else, often the US. Check out bank secrecy for a start. That's pretty much bitten the dust. The EU didn't scupper it, the US did. No skin off my nose. They should keep going and axe the offshore tax-havens.
Are you going to start trolling me, too? What have I done to deserve this? I don't believe you and I don't believe you : o ) Out of curiosity - do you personally believe that avoiding a negative outcome is a positive, or just "meh"?
They do. A certain irony there, as I have spent several years in the past biking without one. Mind you, if you come into Switzerland on a normal road and not a motorway, you can't be made to buy one. If you're already on the motorway, you're sort of scuppered. My view was that I already paid for the car and I can't drive the car and the bike at the same time. But last year, I coughed up. It's just not worth the hassle for CHF 40 a year of worrying about impromptu police checks at motorway slip roads. Infrequent, but they can happen.
The border security staff must have taken the days off when I crossed the French/Swiss border not so long ago. Switzerland has an enviable democracy which other European countries can only dream of. Obviously, the Swiss cannot change anything in the EU, having no vote, and they can only change the EU intrusions into Swiss politics by entirely leaving the EU. They mustn't feel bad though about not being able to change the EU. Even countries that do have a vote cannot do that (unless that country's name begins with a G and ends in an ermany).
Much better value for a resident than tourist but then the tourists and trucks are clogging up and damaging their roads
Sure. Switzerland is a short-cut north/south and east/west, so it's fair enough to get people to cough up a bit. No one seems to mind the fleecing that the French give you when you use their motorways.
Yes, border control is light mostly and there are border crossings which are barely manned on some of the smaller routes. The French are often not around, but the Swiss generally are, but may not feel inclined to do any checks. As a matter of interest, meat is limited to a kilo per person, including everything - sausages, foie gras, chickens, not just steaks. When I shop over the border, it's just not worth cheating on that. You'd quickly come unstuck. So that is the level of border security that there is. Not much, but enough.
