Brussels, 19/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - The future of EU-Switzerland relations was the focus of the meetings that the president of the Swiss Confederation, Doris Leuthard, held with the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, on Monday 19 July in Brussels. Since the “no” vote at the Swiss referendum on the country's accession to the European Economic Area (EEA) in 1992, relations between the EU and Bern have been governed by some 120 agreements and bilateral arrangements. Although these agreements have worked fairly well to date, the two sides (and especially the EU) consider the bilateral approach and its patchwork of sector-specific agreements is reaching its limit and that relations should now be founded on a new uniform and coherent legal base, for example a framework agreement or an association agreement. The first negotiations on bilateral agreements in 1994 were held when the EU had only 12 members. Today, with the 27-member Union, more and more member states without specific links with Switzerland are wondering about the need to grant this country - which has refused to join the EEA - special treatment. Furthermore, as the Avenir Suisse think-tank notes in a report published last week (http://www.avenir-suisse.ch ), the European internal market has, in the meantime, become so large that integration of Switzerland no longer has the same significance in the eyes of the other partners as it had when the EEA or the EU had only 15 members. Above all, the EU hopes bilateral agreements will in future be automatically adapted to take into account the constant evolution of acquis communautaire. At the moment, the body of law to be respected by member states of the EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway) varies constantly although it remains static for Switzerland on the basis of agreements reached over the past 15 years. The EU would also like there to be a double arbitration body in the event of disputes - the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) court for complaints from non-EU countries, and the Luxembourg Court of Justice for complaints from the Union.
Switzerland is ready to find solutions to the problem of the constantly changing EU body of law so that its sovereignty is respected. The Swiss president, Doris Leuthard, repeated this on Monday after her meeting with Van Rompuy. It is “important” that the EU and Switzerland begin to reflect on ways to facilitate implementation of bilateral agreements, “while safeguarding the sovereignty of both parties”, she told the press. Herman Van Rompuy stressed the need to base relations on “sound legal and political foundations”. He pointed out that future relations with Switzerland should meet the “criteria and conditions” fixed by member states in December 2008. In its conclusions, the General Affairs Council said it was “concerned by the inconsistent application of agreements concluded between the EU and Switzerland” and had invited Bern to fully implement these agreements. The 27 EU member states had also set out their new doctrine, namely that all the new bilateral agreements on the table should include an acquis that is in “constant evolution”. The Council had also welcomed the announcement of discussion in the Swiss parliament in favour of a framework agreement. “Such an agreement should also include the incorporation of the acquis for all the agreements, and a mechanism for regular updating and homogenous interpretation of them”, the EU27 stressed.
Joint working group. On Monday, at the end of the day, José Manuel Barroso and Doris Leuthard announced the creation of a joint group of experts responsible for exploring possibilities for basing relations on a new institutional basis. The group should “respect the sovereignty of both sides as well as the correct functioning of the institutions”, it was agreed. It will present its “first results” at the end of this year. Without wishing to prejudge the results of this joint work, Barroso told reporters that the implementation of the vast “network” of bilateral agreements had become “complex and sometimes unwieldy” and that it would be preferable to have a “crosscutting institutional framework” that would above all allow more flexible adjustment to the development of the acquis communautaire. The group will begin its work after 18 August when the Federal (government) Council is due to present its report on its future European policy.
Doris Leuthard also welcomed the European financial stabilisation facility of €750 billion set in place by the EU to come to the assistance of countries at the risk of insolvency. A strong eurozone is also in Switzerland's interest, she said. “We want a strong and credible Europe”, the president went on to say. With a public debt of 39% of its GDP, “Switzerland complies with the Maastricht criteria, if they still exist”, Leuthard commented. (H.B./transl.jl)