[新闻背景]

　　瑞士政府3月3日终于涉险过关，在全民公决中以微弱多数的54.6%的选民选票和全国23个州中的12个州的赞成，蠃得了国民对本国加入联合国计划的支持。

　　THE End Of Neutrality中立的结束　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--Pravda.ru《真理报》

　　One more country is striving to join the United Nations. A referendum has been held in Switzerland on UN entry on March 3. Fifty-five percent of the population welcome the decision. There is only one European state outside the UN now, the Vatican.

　　Even before the referendum, Switzerland cooperated with the UN: it is a member of almost all specialized organizations and contributes about million per year to their budgets. However, Switzerland has not been accepted yet to the key department: the UN General Assembly. The new member is to be admitted in the UN at a regular session in September.

　　A long struggle between supporters and opponents of the UN entry was fought before the final decision was made. The positions of so-called isolationists are still very strong in the country. Their negative attitude to Switzerland’s entrysintosthe UN is based on the traditional, historically formed neutrality of the country. They fear that entrysintosthe UN will drastically damage Switzerland’s traditional neutrality. The same argument was a success during the previous referendum on the problem held in the country in 1986. However, after sixteen years, the situation was repeated, with a different result.

　　Why do Swiss support entrysintosthe UN? There are several reasons. First, the government popularized the examples of Sweden and Austria, which recently entered the UN. It was said that UN membership caused no damage to their neutrality. What is more, Austria is even actively integrating not onlysintosthe UN structures butsintosthe European Union as well. Second, the Swiss government would like to influence international affairs. UN membership provides the greatest opportunities for such influence. The famous banking system of Switzerland will not be transformed after entrysintosthe UN, and its influence may even increase. Third, the lastest tendencies of world policy have reached such countries as Switzerland. The US-led anti-terrorism war concerns the country as well. Indeed, no neutrality guarantees protection from acts of terrorism.