Swiss deciding whether to join passport-free area

SOLOTHURN, Switzerland — For 400 years, Switzerland's Alpine peaks and strict neutrality have kept the rest of Europe at bay. A referendum today may put a dent in that image.

The 4.5 million eligible voters have to decide on their government's plans to joining Europe's 15-nation passport-free area. Opinion polls indicate a majority yes vote, but the gap is narrowing.

Switzerland's borders are already wide open, but the issue goes much deeper than a simple question of what papers, if any, travelers have to show at the crossings.

As the European Union reels from last week's French and Dutch rebuffs of its proposed constitution, this country has been immersed in its own debate about its place in Europe.

Switzerland has long considered itself an island of stability on a sometimes volatile continent, but it is slowly coming to the realization that studied aloofness may no longer be an option.

"If Switzerland had to remain isolated from Schengen cooperation, it would run the risk of becoming the weak link," said Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey.

Schengen, a town on the Luxembourg-French-German border, is where an accord was signed 20 years ago to start opening Europe's borders. The 15 members of Europe's passport-free zone are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

Christian Blocher disagrees with the foreign minister's "weak-link" argument. Although he is justice minister in the coalition government, he is a nationalist who advocates keeping Switzerland separate. Four years ago, he led the campaign that produced a 77 percent "no" vote in a referendum on whether the country should join the EU.

"Those who want to get rid of all borders must wonder whether they're dissolving just borders, but also the entire state, together with its identity, its history, its individuality," Blocher said. "The borders are a guarantee for what determines the state."

But in a country of German-, French- and Italian-speakers, that identity is a complicated one, as a visit to the town of Solothurn reveals.

It lies in the German-speaking region of Switzerland, and although its air of clean efficiency matches the German stereotype, it may well vote "no" today.

The reason is that historically, the more traditional German areas have feared being dominated by their northern neighbor, and the 3.5 million German-speaking voters outnumber the rest 3-1.

Last year, the Swiss were shocked when Germany, without warning, started intensive border checks on cars entering its territory from the northern city of Basel, causing long traffic jams. Most drivers had been used to being waved through with scarcely a glance.

The Germans maintained they were simply applying the rules, but the Swiss saw it as a way of pressuring them into signing an agreement to fight tax evasion. The clampdown was soon eased, but it still serves as a reminder of what's at stake in the referendum.

Just half an hour from Solothurn, the German "autobahn" becomes a French "autoroute" before reaching Neuchâtel, on the French side of a great European cultural divide. Here the architecture, language and ambiance are more French, and it's Catholic while the German side is Protestant. It's also more pro-European, but numbers only a million voters.

Advocates for more open borders say Switzerland would gain tourism revenue and better access to European markets.

Monika Dusong, a national legislator from Neuchâtel, rejects the notion that the Swiss "island" is in danger, noting how limited border checks already are.

"Schengen doesn't mean abandoning controls, but reorienting them," she says.