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The Vice President of the EU Commission, Maros Sefcovic, is traveling to Bern for the first time for a meeting on the subject of Switzerland and the EU. What to expect from this visit?
What is the purpose of the meeting? There was speculation about a visit from Maros Sefcovic last autumn. The Vice-President of the Commission, who is responsible for Switzerland at the EU, wanted to meet the most important domestic political players – such as social partners and cantons. Sefcovic acted similarly during the negotiations on the Northern Ireland Protocol. However, no visit took place last autumn – apparently because Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis thought it was too early for a high-level meeting.
Sefcovic has now presented Cassis with a fait accompli by announcing the presentation at the University of Fribourg. He also arranged a meeting with parliamentarians from the Commission, which is responsible for EU issues. And finally, there was a working lunch between Cassis and Sefcovic, which will take place on Wednesday evening.
What does Sefcovic intend to do with it? Critics – especially from the SVP – say that Sefcovic distrusts the Swiss government and is bypassing it by wanting to speak directly to unions and employers. With the visit, he wants to put pressure on Cassis and the entire Federal Council so that negotiations can take place soon.
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Olivier Matthys/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Foreign policy experts from several other parties consider it a good sign that the EU Vice-President is interested in the various positions within Switzerland. Sefcovic is likely to want to estimate how great the interest in a new package of agreements with the EU is in Switzerland at the moment and how great the chances are that negotiations could start soon.
Where are the relations between Switzerland and the EU at the moment? Since Switzerland buried the framework agreement with the EU in spring 2021, there have been no more negotiations. Most recently, Swiss State Secretary Livia Leu was in Brussels for exploratory talks at the beginning of March. At the time, both sides announced that another round of talks would take place at the end of April. With these soundings, Switzerland and the EU want to find out whether new negotiations for the further development of the bilateral agreements have a chance. If both sides believe negotiations are possible, a document is to be signed that sets out important points on which agreement can be reached.
Similar to the framework agreement, the critical points from a Swiss point of view are wage protection, the Union Citizens Directive and state aid. The EU also wants to give the European Court of Justice as central a role as possible, while Switzerland wants to make as many exceptions as possible. Parallel to these consultations with Brussels, talks are also being held domestically, including between Federal Councilor Cassis and the social partners and the cantons.
How realistic is an early start of negotiations? The signals are currently mixed. In the spring of 2024 there will be elections in the EU. Depending on the outcome of the election, the EU Commission could look very different afterwards. If nothing concrete is on the table by spring 2024, the negotiators would have to start all over again from scratch. Another meeting between State Secretary Livia Leu and her counterpart in Brussels is currently planned for the end of April. At the same time, the Federal Council should already carry out the next location determination at the end of March. Then he could at best decide in principle that he is aiming for a negotiating mandate. After the various meetings of Sefcovic, there is hardly any big news to be expected this week.