home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- <text id=92TT1201>
- <title>
- June 01, 1992: In from the Cold
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
- June 01, 1992 RIO:Coming Together to Save the Earth
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- THE WEEK, Page 24
- WORLD
- In from the Cold
- </hdr><body>
- <p>Always aloof, Switzerland moves closer to its European partners
- </p>
- <p> Neutrality certainly has its benefits. By staying above the
- fray in their landlocked mountain state, the Swiss have managed
- to stay out of international conflicts while establishing
- themselves as the world's private bankers. But last week the
- governing Federal Councilors announced that they will apply for
- membership in the European Community. Emboldened by a recent
- popular vote that approved joining the World Bank and the
- International Monetary Fund, the government moved quickly to
- cash in on an emerging approval of multinational organizations
- among its citizens.
- </p>
- <p> Bankers and businessmen applaud the new overtures. But
- Swiss farmers, whose subsidies are considerably higher than
- those of the E.C., find the prospect of losing income
- frightening. And in a country that currently does not have a
- sales tax, the E.C.'s proposed 15% value-added tax is not
- popular. But by joining the E.C., the Swiss stand to gain more
- than they would have by staying out in the cold.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-