In Bern, Switzerland, on Thursday 23 November, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, met the President of the Swiss Confederation, Doris Leuthard, having announced his intentions to do so in April at a previous meeting in Brussels.
The two leaders confirmed the normalisation of relations already observed in April and announced new developments, the Commission President stating that a (favourable) decision would be made in December at the College on the equivalency decision for financial instruments (recognition of Swiss standards), which is extremely important to Bern, and Leuthard confirming the decision to pay SFr.1.3 billion to the EU under cohesion, including SFr.200 million for migration, with the rest of the envelope to focus on vocational training in the new member states.
Switzerland and the EU were able to sign another agreement on Thursday, allowing them to connect their CO2 emission quota trading systems (ETS). Moreover, an agreement allowing the Swiss law enforcement authorities to access data in the EURODAC database was initialled in Brussels on Wednesday 22 November. The agreement on technical barriers to trade (ARM) was updated before the summer break.
“Scientific and technical cooperation between the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the update of the agreement on insurance are also on the point of concluding. Similarly, the opening of negotiations concerning Switzerland's cooperation with the European Railways Agency (ERA) and its participation in the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) have been agreed upon”, a press release of the Swiss mission to the EU adds (our translation).
The most sensitive issues ahead of this visit were related to the cohesion 'billion', to be paid out in several tranches, and institutional relations, with the EU and Bern having been at work on a framework agreement since 2013. On this latter point, the two Presidents acknowledged that they would not be in a position to finalise the work this year, but stressed that discussions would continue, confirming their desire to conclude, possibly by spring 2018. Three or four points of tension remain, for instance concerning the dispute settlement mechanism that would give the European Court of Justice powers to settle disagreements concerning Switzerland's implementation of EU law. The two Presidents noted that discussions would allow for more flexible solutions. Juncker furthermore called for this framework agreement to change name and be referred to in the future of as a “treaty of friendship”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)