The European Union and Switzerland officially normalised relations in Brussels on Thursday 6 April, ending the tensions following the referendum of 9 February 2014 on the free movement of persons (see EUROPE 11016).
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker received Doris Leuthard, President of the Swiss Confederation on Thursday. They pledged to work towards concluding an institutional framework agreement before the end of the year that will facilitate the bilateral relations made up of more than 120 sectoral agreements. In return, Switzerland expects the EU to get things moving again on a number of issues that have been at a standstill since the free movement disagreement.
A solution on freedom of movement was found in December and relaxation on the Galileo, Copernicus and Erasmus+ programmes followed soon after. Other matters, however, of greater importance to the Swiss economy, such as the agreement on technical barriers to trade, remain becalmed.
Juncker deemed the solution found by Bern in December on free movement to be perfectly “satisfactory” (see EUROPE 11695). Refuting that the EU is imposing its diktat on Switzerland, he urged that Switzerland be treated with “respect”. He called for negotiations on the interinstitutional agreement and on getting movement on the last pending issues to be conducted in parallel.
“We have moved closer today, thanks to discussions”, he stressed, stating that the intention was to conclude the agreement by the end of the year. The two leaders will take stock in the autumn when Juncker is due to visit Switzerland.
Leuthard emphasised that Switzerland had hitherto behaved correctly, having always fulfilled its obligations and complied with European rules. She conceded, however, that freezing a number of issues had hurt her country. Now, “it’s time to move on”, she said, promising to accept the interinstitutional agreement if it meet Switzerland’s expectations in full.
Bern currently has two red lines, one on the role of the Court of Justice of the EU and the other on state aid. Leuthard expressed confidence, nonetheless, that these final matters would be settled this year. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)