Reply to: The Swiss have got it right

[GreenerGrass]

And I heard you have to be able to tell a hilarious joke about Austrians (like our Irish jokes) to be granted citizenship.

[Troll]

It sounds like the countries that have the nerve to criticise the Swiss are just bitter and jealous.

[NotAllThere]

They have to be fluent in at least one national language. German, French, Italian or Reto-Romansch.

Only three people speak Reto-Romansch. And the majority of alledgedly German speaking Swiss don't speak German; rather their dialect.

[GreenerGrass]

The Italians do the admin.

And run the sandwich shops (thankfully).

The Swiss need foreign labour at all levels to run their country

I think they realise this, but they just don't want all the criminals, scroungers, and religious fanatics that go with uncontrolled immigration.
It sounds like the countries that have the nerve to critisize the Swiss are just bitter and jealous.

[Troll]

They appear before a citizenship committee and answer questions about their desire to be Swiss. After that, they must often be approved by the entire voting community, in a secret ballot, or a show of hands. .

true democracy in action..

[NotAllThere]

Swiss citizens are less likely to be prosecuted for committing the same offence as a non-Swiss.

A significant number of the "asylum seekers" have committed no crime, other than failing their asylum application. A failed asylum seeker is told they have to leave. But as they have no money, they can't. So they get jailed.

While in jail, they get fed on Muesli and Fondue. This must surely constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

There are 1,500,000 non-Swiss residents in Switzerland, who have no say in how the country runs. The Swiss living in Switzerland number about 6,000,000. In some cantons the proportion of non-Swiss to Swiss is much higher. Some Swiss recognise that this is a problem.

The funny thing is that you hardly ever see Swiss people in the workplace. The Swiss need foreign labour at all levels to run their country. In the pharmaceutical industry, the Swiss own the companies, the Germans manage them, and the Brits do the specialist work. The Italians do the admin.

[Joe Black]

Yes: http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2938940.ece

I'd second that...if only they'd let me vote.

[GreenerGrass]

Yes: http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2938940.ece

Interesting article that

"At the end of 2006, 5,888 people were interned in Swiss prisons. 31 per cent were Swiss citizens – 69 per cent were foreigners or asylum-seekers".

So in order to reject claims of nazism should they abandon the democratic wishes of the majority of citizens and surrender to anti-democratic forces of liberal socialist multiculturalism and Islamism?

I thought democracy was about letting the majority of people decide themselves what they want for their country?

Obviously I'm playing devil's advocate here, I was arrested myself as a foreign tram fare evader in Zurich. I could have been shot.

[Rantor]

putting up house prices, causing AIDS and hanging around street corners wearing a hoodie.
tulip, must stop reading the Daily Mail.

Off Topic - Nice Avatar DG

[Dundeegeorge]

Presumably he's now in the UK

I did hear of a case of this but could not remember where. If memory serves me right - the man in question ended up in limbo in an airport, unable to leave nor able to enter the country.

putting up house prices, causing AIDS and hanging around street corners wearing a hoodie.
tulip, must stop reading the Daily Mail.

[Old Greg]

I did hear of a case of this but could not remember where. If memory serves me right - the man in question ended up in limbo in an airport, unable to leave nor able to enter the country.

That's the guy at Paris Charles de Gaulle.

[lilelvis2000]

I think they are stateless - I think there was a case of this.

I did hear of a case of this but could not remember where. If memory serves me right - the man in question ended up in limbo in an airport, unable to leave nor able to enter the country.

[Robster]

I feel the need to be slightly pedantic at this point and point out that the name of the country in question is "Switzerland"

[NotAllThere]

They are, and they'll hold papers which allow them some scope to travel. In Switzerland they'll also have residency permits and possibly work permits.

It's pretty easy to travel to neighbouring countries on just the residency permit, though not strictly allowed.

[Old Greg]

What happends to people who are born in Swiss but their parent's country doesn't recognise them either. What passport do they hold?

I think they are stateless - I think there was a case of this.