Swiss parliamentarians and MEPs want to advance the dialogue between Switzerland and Brussels. The Federal Council should resume the broken negotiations, they demand in a joint statement. One subordinate clause is particularly interesting.
Friendly in tone, unsurprising in content: The MEPs from Bern and Brussels want to start where the Federal Council gave up in May 2021 in exasperation.
A meeting between the European delegation of the Swiss National and Council of States and EU parliamentarians, which took place on Thursday and Friday in Rapperswil-Jona, ended in mutual harmony. Both parties want to move forward with the bilateral dialogue. In a joint declaration that was adopted on Friday on behalf of the two delegation presidents, the St. Gallen Council of States Benedikt Würth (middle) and the MEP Andreas Schwab (CDU), it is stated that a solution is in the interests of both sides.
As friendly as the tone is, the content of the paper contains little that is surprising. However, this may also be due to the fact that on the Swiss side, it was mainly staunch European politicians who took part, who still regret that the Federal Council broke off negotiations on the institutional agreement two years ago.
“Convinced that there are no unsurmountable political differences between ?? & ??”: Joint Statement by @BeniWuerth, Chair of ?? parl. delegation to @Europarl_EN & his ?? counterpart @Andreas_Schwabduring interparliamentary meeting in Rapperswil ? https://t.co/5BTB1fS4E0 1/2 pic.twitter.com/BjPZcjzOXE
— Parl CH (@ParlCH) October 7, 2022
This is reflected in the fact that the parliamentarians have agreed to start again where the Federal Council gave up in May 2021: the controversial dispute settlement mechanism, which gives the European Court of Justice a dominant role, is explicitly described as an “appropriate compromise”. It is also said that future institutional solutions between Switzerland and the EU should “rely on it”.
There is still disagreement over the two sticking points, wage protection and the free movement of people. Here the instruments contained in the framework agreement to secure the accompanying measures should be “the basis of every development”. The parliamentarians believe that one should continue to work towards the compromises already outlined in the framework agreement. The Swiss side states that the autonomous implementation of labor market controls must be guaranteed.
In summary, it can be said: For the first time since the end of the official negotiations, the two parties are conducting parallel negotiations – and in Switzerland. All critical points are addressed and differences are noted without judgment. But what is most interesting is a subordinate clause. If, according to the paper, the Federal Council were to pass a new negotiating mandate, Brussels would obviously take this as a signal to grant Switzerland access to the current Horizon program again.
The tone of the paper differs greatly from the last statement on the bilateral relationship. Almost a month ago, State Secretary Livia Leu said in an interview with the NZZ that the EU relied on “pressure politics” when dealing with Switzerland. Brussels works with delays and is generally not in a particularly great hurry. “Even if not everyone wants to admit it: the Federal Council has long since fulfilled the EU’s requirement to make a clear commitment,” said Leu in an interview. With the new package approach, the Federal Council has declared its willingness to approach the EU institutionally. The EU, on the other hand, is “very principled”. At the time, Leu left it open how long the soundings would last and whether the two sides would then enter into negotiations.