Federal Council wants to start negotiations with Brussels in March
Published: Friday, Mar 8th 2024, 15:01
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The Federal Council wants to negotiate Switzerland's future relations with the EU with Brussels. It has specified the mandate for this based on the hearings and adopted it on Friday. Negotiations will begin as soon as the European Commission has also received the final mandate.
According to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), this should happen before the end of March. On the Swiss side, chief negotiator Patric Franzen - who is Deputy State Secretary of the FDFA - is in charge of the overall negotiations. The individual parts of the negotiation package are to be negotiated in parallel.
Each element of the package will be negotiated jointly by Franzen and the specialist negotiator from the responsible department. FDFA State Secretary Alexandre Fasel heads the interdepartmental working group that will coordinate the work carried out in Switzerland with that carried out as part of the negotiations. The project organization set up in September 2022 under the leadership of Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis will remain in place.
Almost three years interruption
Negotiations with Brussels could thus be resumed after a break of almost three years. In May 2021, the Federal Council broke off negotiations on a framework agreement with Brussels. After seven years of negotiations, there was no prospect of success, it was said at the time.
In consultations on the negotiating mandate, a large majority of the stakeholders consulted expressed a positive opinion on the package approach for the negotiations, the FDFA wrote in a press release. The Federal Council has adopted the majority of the recommendations from the consultations and adapted its draft mandate from December.
The Federal Council writes that this puts the negotiations on a solid political footing. At the same time, it has retained room for maneuver vis-à-vis the EU.
Criticized electricity agreement
However, it has not taken into account wishes in the area of electricity - the proposed electricity agreement was criticized in various ways during the hearings. The Federal Council mentions the exclusion of electricity production from the scope of the agreement and the renunciation of measures to open up the market.
In the electricity agreement, it wants to ensure that consumers have the choice of remaining in the protected basic supply with regulated prices. The Federal Council wants to retain the most important state subsidies for electricity production, particularly from renewable energies.
With regard to wage protection, the Federal Council wants to guarantee wage and working conditions. For the regulation of expenses, it is striving for a solution that guarantees legal equality, taking into account the Swiss price level.
Analysis of the referendum question
The Federal Council has not yet decided whether the outcome of the negotiations should be subject to an optional or mandatory referendum - i.e. whether a majority of the cantons should be required. It has commissioned a legal analysis from the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP).
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