Trudging through the snowy French town of Gex, I did the obligatory pocket check of anyone running late for the bus. Phone? Gloves? Keys? But how about my wallet? At this point I stop and double check. Here a combination of Swiss francs and euros is helpful, but it’s your ID that’s a necessity.
After bundling on to the bus, we marvelled at the amount of snow. My Swiss friend explained that they didn’t have “snow days” in Switzerland. She was shocked to discover that we have them back in the UK. The Swiss know a thing or two about dealing with heavy snowfall. In fact, it’s a highly competent country all round.
With years of experience to smooth out the details, Switzerland has managed to find harmony in its day-to-day relationship with its neighbours. Geneva’s airport has a French sector, accessed by a slim strip of French road, to allow for internal French flights. As a member of the Schengen Area, passing through the border is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment. Apart from a clearer, more drawn-out accent on the Swiss side, the separation between countries feels blurred. Around 150,000 workers commute across the border each day.
Yet despite this, or maybe even because of it, identities are more regional, more local. My friend’s family were keen to show off the blue cheese from their village, as well as the beanies you could buy with the cheese logo emblazoned on it. To gain citizenship in Switzerland, you have to have lived in the same village for three years. And yet, despite such a strong sense of local identity, Switzerland has a self-awareness that Suella Braverman could only dream of. The Swiss have realised that strong, respectful relationships with their neighbours, free of condescension and suspicion, are in the best interests of all involved.
Admittedly, Swiss net migration is considerably less than in the UK. Yet there’s still a lesson to be learned in their willingness to cooperate. Rishi Sunak should take note.
The centre of Geneva is dotted with upmarket French shops, tailoring to the rich international clientele. Yet as you head further downtown, it becomes increasingly German in feel – the buildings are more sober and there is more modern art. Switzerland has always been the neutral country, sometimes controversially, but that seems to have made it a blank canvas that attracts cultural colour from both Europe and further afield. Culture flows freely here, much like the traffic across the border.
Passing the Palais des Nations, and the countless other international NGO headquarters that dot north Geneva, I’m reminded that Switzerland isn’t just unique as an island in the middle of the EU ocean, but as a world capital for diplomacy. Its situation is inevitably, obviously different to that of the UK, but that shouldn’t stop the UK learning from Swiss efficiency and pragmatism.
If we’ve confined ourselves to self-imposed isolation, we might as well learn to do it as well as the Swiss and keep up amicable relations with our neighbours. Having a land border may make this more of a priority, but compared with the Swiss, the UK is behaving like a spoilt child.
Travelling with another friend from the UK, our hosts make jokes about our lack of European-ness now we’ve left the EU.
As a Francophile, I was taken aback by this. I wanted to point out that no, we haven’t actually left the continent of Europe – but then I realised that this is how many people see the UK now: cast adrift. We may be independent like Switzerland, but we don’t share its maturity.
