Brussels, 06/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 6 May, the Council of Ministers of the EU formally adopted the decision authorising the opening of negotiations on an agreement between the EU and Switzerland on an institutional framework governing their bilateral relations, following an earlier decision of the national ambassadors to the EU - Coreper (see EUROPE 11070).
Currently, relations between the EU and Switzerland are based on a very complex system comprising over 120 specific sectoral agreements that cover a wide range of EU policies - including Switzerland's participation in numerous aspects of the single market, the Council states in a press release.
The negotiations aim to modernise the contractual relations between the two partners. With this mandate adopted, the negotiations will be able to begin. The European External Action Service (EEAS) wants the negotiations to be concluded as quickly as possible.
Switzerland and the EU will also be able to resume their discussions on the programmes after these discussions were put on ice following the 9 February referendum. However, these discussions - particularly those on Switzerland's participation in certain arrangements such as Horizon 2020 - will remain conditional upon Bern's decision on whether or not to reintroduce quotas on European workers in three years, as demanded in the Swiss referendum. (SP)