19/02/2019 (Agence Europe) – EU Ministers for European Affairs adopted without discussion on Tuesday 19 February the draft conclusions on bilateral relations with Switzerland, validated on 15 February by EU ambassadors (see EUROPE 12195). Marked by the unknown surrounding the fate of the negotiation on the institutional framework agreement, this 15-paragraph document signals to Bern that, without a favourable conclusion of this framework agreement, there will no longer be any future access to the EU's internal market. The conclusions also indicate that the Commission could also decide not to update existing agreements and arrangements, including the famous equivalence for the Swiss stock exchange, as suggested by an ambiguous wording according to which the signature of this framework agreement is "also an essential criterion for deciding on further progress towards the opening of mutually beneficial markets". (SP)