On Tuesday 11 May, EU European Affairs Ministers discussed the EU-Switzerland bilateral relationship and the draft institutional agreement that has been pending since the end of 2018.
At Austria’s request, the Ministers exchanged views on this issue and were informed by Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič of the state of play in the negotiations, which could not be relaunched on 23 April during Swiss President Guy Parmelin’s visit to Mrs von der Leyen.
For Mr Šefčovič, the discussion was an opportunity to reiterate Member States’ support for the European Commission’s chosen strategy of continuing to “seek mutually acceptable solutions” for both sides.
The Vice-President stressed that, without this framework agreement, the relationship would “only grow old and erode” and that this status quo’s first effects would already be seen in the health and electricity agreements, which cannot be achieved without a framework agreement.
This is “why we want this coherent and consistent agreement”, which will “ensure a level playing field”. The EU remains ready “to find solutions” with Switzerland, and that can be achieved “with flexibility” on both sides, he said.
Five Member States took the floor in a brief discussion, namely France, Germany, Italy, Austria and Slovakia. Some Member States wanted to know specifically what would happen if talks failed.
“It is now up to our Swiss friends to tell us whether they want this agreement to succeed. We must remain within the boundaries of what has already been negotiated at length”, commented French Secretary of State for European Affairs Clément Beaune in the morning.
His German counterpart, Michael Roth, stressed (via Horizon Europe) that the relationship with Switzerland “is very important” for his country, especially “for research”, but that “whoever wants to participate in the Single Market must abide by its rules”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)