The BBC is usually referred to these days as the broadcasting arm of the Guardian, such is the contempt for basic standards of impartiality in favour of a rigidly liberal-Left agenda. When it comes to matters relating to the EU, it becomes the broadcasting arm of the European Commission.

The sheer blatancy of the bias attending reports on Switzerland's decision to back immigration quotas in a referendum this weekend has been breathtaking. The lead item on BBC World all morning on Monday, it was effectively run as a scare story. Literally nobody was brought on to say that this may be the shape of things to come in Europe, that perhaps the EU could learn something from this, or that, heck, this is democracy in action: good on the Swiss!

Not a bit of it. Instead it was a non-stop stream of propaganda about the dangers to the Swiss economy and how capping immigration will ruin the country's relationship with the EU -- an outcome that could, of course, only be considered as a bad thing.

Even by BBC standards, this was a disgrace. And that's because they're reflecting an EU worldview that frankly despises the opinions of ordinary people.

From the point of view of Brussels -- where this editorial has been written -- the Swiss have done two things wrong.

The first, of course, was to hold a referendum in the first place. The idea of consulting the people on anything at all is practically blasphemy. If they have the temerity to hold a vote and then cast their ballots in a manner that could annoy Brussels, well at that stage, the instinct is essentially to call in the tanks.

In modern Europe, they can't do that of course. And they think they don't need to so long as they can rely on state broadcasters like the BBC to frighten people into silence.

The problem for the eurocrats is that people no longer believe the BBC any more than they believe Brussels. And that can only mean that it's just a question of time before the whole house of cards comes crashing down on top of them.

If democracy in Europe is to be saved, it can't happen soon enough.