Switzerland in Search of an Identity - Shall we become the Center of Europe, try a remake of Albania under Enver Hoxha, or end in a hostile environment, comparable to that of Israel or of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip?

When casting their vote in the next federal referendum on February 8, 2009, the Swiss will take one further step in their never-ending search for a national identity. They can say YES to the extension of the convention on free circulation of persons throughout the European Union to the citizens of new member states of the UE, namely Bulgaria and Romania, or say NO, thereby putting at risk a series of bilateral conventions on subjects such as free trade, mutual recognition of professional qualifications, scientific and technical cooperation etc.etc. which define the "bilateral way" of step by step cooperation with the European Union onto which the country has been steered by Chrstoph Blocher and his Swiss People's Party.
A series of questions arise in this context.
Will Switzerland continue to be a "special zone" in the heart of the European Union, at best developping over the years into a "District of Switzerland" (in analogy to the "District of Columbia - D.C." of the United States of America) or will it become
a pariah country, a kind of remake of Enver Hoxha's Albania which isolated itself completely from the European continent and sought refuge and consolation as a special ally of Maoist China? Will Switzerland continue to consider itself as a kind of "Promised Land" unable to understand positive signals from it's neighbours and therefore driving itself into a more and more violent defensive behaviour, quite similar to Israel, or, even worse, will it be forced into isolation by a European Union which could become more and more unwilling to discuss special favours for an unreliable partner? Will this isolation eventually lead to more and more violent internal dispute and dissensions, to a civil war and to a chaos of the type we now can see in the Gaza Strip?
The outcome of the popular vote of February 8 is still uncertain, the latest polls indicating a narrow majority for YES with 55%.
Whatever the result, it will not end the continuous effort of a country that has an impressivee record of high quality direct democracy to make difficult choices on it's priorities, political, economical, cultural as well.
Another aspect, our voters should take into account: Switzerland's political choices do not pass unnoticed in European capitals, and a negative vote on February 8 is likely to unleash more internal dispute within the European Union where some partners have become particularly vulnerable to populist tendencies.