Federal Council adopts draft negotiating mandate with the EU
Published: Friday, Dec 15th 2023, 18:10
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On Friday, the Federal Council approved the draft negotiating mandate with the EU. Negotiations are to begin as soon as both the EU and the Federal Council have definitively adopted the mandate.
The stabilization and further development of relations with the EU is essential, said Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis to the media in Bern. After around seventy bilateral meetings at various levels, the time has now come to present a draft mandate. At the same time, the EU and Switzerland published a joint declaration.
The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) wrote that this creates the conditions for the start of negotiations. Landing zones are defined in the declaration, which must then be reduced to landing points during the negotiations, Cassis continued.
In it, Bern and Brussels reaffirm the package approach proposed by Switzerland. There are to be new agreements in the areas of electricity, food safety and health. The package also includes an agreement on systematic participation in EU programs as well as regular cohesion contributions to the EU. How high these will be remains to be seen.
No more institutional umbrella
In contrast to the Institutional Framework Agreement (InstA), the institutional issues are now to be integrated into the individual internal market agreements. This affects the free movement of persons, land transport, air transport, technical barriers to trade (MRA) and agriculture. There is also the electricity agreement to be negotiated.
Another new feature is that only three internal market agreements are to contain state aid provisions: Electricity, air transport and land transport. Although the EU Court of Justice still interprets EU law according to the declaration, the scope of application is now defined somewhat more narrowly than under the InstA.
At the same time, Switzerland is committed to the dynamic adoption of legislation in the internal market agreements, but is granted exceptions in return. According to Justice Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, this includes the free movement of persons, one of the most controversial dossiers.
Citizens of the Union Directive
This is because the EU wants Switzerland to adopt the EU Citizens Directive (UBRL), which Brussels sees as a further development of EU law. For example, there are exceptions for Switzerland with regard to expulsion, social assistance and the granting of permanent residency.
In terms of wage protection, both parties are committed to the principle of "equal pay for equal work in the same place", according to the declaration. There are exceptions here for the pre-notification period and the deposit requirement.
Baume-Schneider confirmed that Switzerland could also continue to carry out labor inspections and enforce the labor law. According to Cassis, there is also a non-regression clause that allows Switzerland to avoid having to accept deteriorations.
However, the super guillotine originally demanded by the EU is a thing of the past. This would have meant that if the InstA had been terminated, all internal market agreements would also have lapsed. The joint declaration now refers to "proportional compensation measures".
Time pressure due to research
Thanks to the progress made in talks with the EU, Bern has succeeded in unblocking EU programs such as the EU research program "Horizon Europe" and the EU education program "Erasmus+". Technical talks are currently underway with the EU.
The declaration also agreed on a transitional arrangement "that will enable researchers in Switzerland to participate in the 2024 call for proposals of the European Research Council (ERC) as soon as negotiations on the package and association to 'Horizon Europe' begin," the FDFA wrote in a statement.
This transitional arrangement should be applied for the 2025 program year, provided that a corresponding agreement between Switzerland and the EU has been initialled by then. This would therefore mean that negotiations would be completed by the end of 2024.
Everything still open
Thanks to this joint declaration, Switzerland and the EU have made great progress. However, Cassis warned: "Everything can be discussed again - by both sides." Many outstanding points are a matter of minor details: "The devil is in the detail."
Where Switzerland had not yet achieved its goals, discussions would be held again, he said. However, the Federal Council wants to move forward quickly. Deputy State Secretary Patric Franzen will negotiate with the EU on Switzerland's behalf as chief negotiator.
The Federal Council's draft mandate will now go to parliament and the cantons for consultation. The definitive negotiating mandate should be ready in two to three months. On the EU side, the EU Commission still has to approve the draft mandate for the attention of the EU member states. This is likely to be the case next Wednesday.
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