In Brussels, the “double majority” is paradoxically viewed favorably

The European Union, as Matteo Gorgoni sees it, is not a machine designed to crush nations. It brings together different national systems while allowing them to express shared interests, he writes in a commentary for Le Temps.

Gorgoni, of the association Switzerland in Europe, points to Article 4 of the Treaty on European Union. The provision says that the Union respects the national identity of its member states, including the political and constitutional structures that define them. European integration, he argues, does not erase the face of a nation.

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The European Union is not a machine designed to crush nations.

That argument underpins his view of Switzerland's debate over the so-called double majority. The requirement is presented by eurosceptic opponents as a safeguard, but Gorgoni says the broader political consequences could be the opposite of what they claim to seek.

In his framing, sabotaging international commitments and a package of agreements negotiated over years would put at risk the stability, security and prosperity Switzerland can still claim. He describes the use of misleading rhetoric and referendum maneuvers as a threat to those interests, while portraying the debate in Brussels as an unusual case in which the double majority is viewed favorably.

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National identity of the Member States, inherent in their fundamental structures, political and constitutional.