[switzerland] schengen and snow cannon dilemma

Justice and Interior ministers from the European Union have decided to include the EU’s 10 new members into the bloc's borderless Schengen system which includes 13 former EU member states [UK and Ireland remained outside the agreement] and the non-EU states of Iceland and Norway.

Unlike Malta, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and five other eastern European nations that have applied for full entry into the Schengen zone, Switzerland, which is not an EU member, will not sign up yet. Swiss voters endorsed their country's participation in Schengen in 2005, despite opposition from the rightwing People's Party.

Meanwhile, on another front, it is no secret that winters are becoming warmer everywhere and in the Alps, the temperature has risen considerably faster than the world average, with less snowfall and a vicious circle has set in: when the snow cover disappears, it leaves the rock face exposed. Dark rock absorbs heat, raising the temperature further.

Snow cannons are the solution for the pistes but they use huge amounts of water: about four litres per square metre per centimetre of snow cover, taking water from reservoirs and streams, when the water is in any case running low, effectively dumping it elsewhere, harming both soil and plants. The cannons also consume huge amounts of energy and to make matters worse, artificial snow quickly forms a hard surface and needs frequent fresh snow to keep the pistes usable.

The cannon issue is hardly likely to upset the Swiss but the open borders is more interesting. It was never very stringently applied and I crossed back and forth to France at Thonon-les-Bains without a word from anyone. That the people voted for open borders though surprises me - they always seemed more insular than that. Do you think it could be a purely economic decision?