Interview: Camilla Alabor
Sunday view: The Federal Council breaks off negotiations on the framework agreement. How did this decision arrive in Brussels?
Andreas Schwab: The Federal Council’s approach was not received positively. Even if, after years of political dialogue on the Swiss side, one comes to the conclusion: “It doesn’t work!”, It would have been appropriate to explain this in a friendly conversation. The EU is not negotiating with Switzerland out of boredom.
So the Federal Council has offended Brussels.
The Swiss government would not allow itself to deal with any other country in the world in this way. Pulling the plug after x rounds of negotiations without giving reasons would not occur to you with China or Russia. For the Europeans who have tried to find a compromise with Switzerland, this is not a nice experience.
In Switzerland, the perception is diametrically different: the European Union showed no willingness to compromise on the Union Citizens’ Directive.
I don’t want to defend the EU across the board. In the case of the Union Citizens’ Directive, there were seven points left open at the end. But the Swiss government has never made any detailed suggestions as to how these points could be clarified. I am sure that a solution could have been found.
How come?
For example, because EU citizens who have worked in Switzerland for years would have received the right of permanent residence a few years later than in EU countries. This type of negotiation never took place in the first place. Getting up from the negotiating table is indecent from my point of view. All the more so since the existing agreement on the free movement of persons is not being applied properly in Switzerland.
What do you mean?
To date, Switzerland has not extended the free movement of persons to all 27 EU countries. Instead, different rules apply to citizens from the “old” EU countries than to those from the “new” EU countries. Of course that is not possible.
How are you going now?
In contrast to what the Federal Council claims, this is how the bilateral path comes to an end. We are faced with a bilateral way back.
You have to explain that.
There will be no new contracts, which is unfortunate. Above all, however, the existing agreements require additional controls, which, apart from additional costs, bring nothing. Nothing has gotten better with the decision of the Federal Council, only more expensive.
The EU is free to update the agreements on the mutual recognition of products.
No – and that is the mistake everyone makes in Switzerland. Take a company in Como. Italy makes payments to the EU budget, bears the cost of rescuing refugees and so on. This Italian company now has to compete with a company in Lugano whose citizens have no such obligations. Switzerland can participate in the internal market, but not on better terms than the EU states themselves.
So Brussels is staying tough?
In the future, the EU Commission will certainly pay more attention to whether Bern is implementing the applicable treaties. As I said, this is not always the case today.
Then, in extreme cases, is there a risk of contracts being terminated?
We want to continue the good relationship with Switzerland. Switzerland has great scientists, companies and diplomats. But we cannot overturn European legal principles on the part of the EU and treat the Swiss better than the Europeans. That would be unfair.
Would it help if Switzerland released the cohesion billion?
No. The cohesion billion is a small contribution, Norway pays five times as much as Switzerland. It is absurd that Bern has not paid this agreed contribution since 2013. But the EU could do without this contribution in an emergency. This is not about money, but about the principle of justice: justice between all citizens and all countries.
Andreas Schwab (48) is head of the Switzerland delegation in the EU Parliament. The CDU MP comes from southern Baden and has been in the Brussels European Parliament since 2004. He is married and has four children.