The Presidents of the European Commission and the Swiss Confederation, Ursula von der Leyen and Simonetta Sommaruga, met for the first time on Monday, 20 January, in Davos, Switzerland, as part of the World Economic Forum.
The two leaders reiterated their respective positions, with President von der Leyen issuing a reminder that the EU expects Switzerland to ratify the institutional framework agreement as soon as possible, as negotiated at the end of 2018 (see EUROPE 12272/18). For her part, the Swiss leader reiterated that Switzerland is prepared to ratify this agreement if clarifications are made beforehand, particularly on the issue of salaries or state aid.
Ms Sommaruga also expects the Commission to renew the equivalence for Swiss medical devices when new EU rules come into force at the end of May and the Commission may, as for the Swiss stock exchange in mid-2019, decide not to renew the mutual recognition decision.
For her part, von der Leyen stressed that the EU bloc also expected Switzerland to deliver the promised 'billion' francs for cohesion in the EU countries. This Swiss contribution, a kind of financial participation in exchange for Swiss access to the internal market, was approved in principle in December by the Swiss Parliament. Ms von der Leyen hopes that this payment will be made quickly, according to a Commission press release.
Ratification of the framework agreement is “a priority“ for the Commission, insisted Commission spokesman, Eric Mamer, on 21 January. However, he refused to say that a link had been made between the payment of the billion and the renewal of the decision on medical devices.
On 17 May, at the initiative of the right-wing SVP party, Switzerland will hold a new referendum on the free movement of foreign workers. Switzerland has therefore already warned that before that date, no real progress could be made in terms of ratification of the framework agreement. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)