Brussels, 26/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - Swiss Federal Councillor (Minister) Joseph Deiss responded, in a letter sent last Friday, to the request by Commissioner Chris Patten to begin new bilateral negotiations. Mr Deiss recalls in his letter that "Switzerland considers it indispensable to come to an understanding on the themes of negotiations, and on the arrangements for the process before discussions open". Chris Patten had irritated Bern by linking, in his letter to Mr Deiss (see EUROPE of 24 February, p.10), the ratification by EU Member States of the 1999 bilateral agreements, eagerly awaited by the Swiss, to the opening of new talks. The Swiss Minister replied that: "It goes without saying that no link can be established between ratification of these agreements concluded almost two years ago and the new negotiation process, that I trust will begin in the very near future". At the same time, Mr Deiss expressed his agreement for the Holding on 8 March of exploratory discussions on the Schengen and Dublin themes (collaboration in justice, police matters and asylum policy). Switzerland makes the opening of negotiations on other issues subject to the formal EU commitment to include Schengen and Dublin in the list of themes that will be tackled in the new bilateral talks. The Union, which has so far not committed itself, hopes, for its part, to first of all cover the thorny issues of savings tax and fraud, subjects that the Swiss government has already agreed to put on the table.
The use of bilateral agreements is the second option of the process for bringing Switzerland closer to the Union. The first, accession, has been frozen since the failure of the 1992 referendum on Swiss participation in the European Economic Area. A referendum calling for the immediate opening of membership talks will be held on 4 March at the initiative of the "Yes to Europe" movement. The Swiss government considers the question premature and recalls it does not need a popular mandate to begin the process, that it does not plan to launch before the 2003-2007 legislature.