Originally Posted by
infrequentflyer789
As pointed out by the poster you quoted, Switzerland
is a member of EASA. It is
not a member of either the EU or the EEA (rejected by a referendum with even smaller margin than the Brexit one).
Why is it people keep saying Switzerland is a member (of EU or EEA) ? - it never has been.
The Swiss do however have a lot more practice with referendums (moreover they are legally binding, plus they send out the voting papers to overseas voters a lot earlier than the UK did), so the result there is much more meaningful. They also have voted to keep various EU relationships alive, even without outright joining the EU.
But perhaps more importantly, the Swiss have a lot more practice at diplomacy, and judging by the fact that they are part of the free movement area AND various further EU related organisations, they seem to be aware that having a close relationship with the EU can lead to significant economic benefits (even if they don't want to be a 100% member). Whereas, judging by current politics and news, the UK is doing its best to shut itself off to and alienate itself from the rest of Europe. Insulting and misleading your negotiating partners is an easy way to make the process last at least twice as long as negotiating with Switzerland ever took.
And Switzerland has the strategic advantage of being in the middle of large road and rail traffic flows between Northern and Southern EU countries. That gives the EU good reason to be friendlier since Switzerland could easily cause major disruption, whereas the UK isn't really that significant.