Brussels, 14/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 10 July in Brussels, the third negotiating session between the EU and Switzerland took place in an effort to find an agreement on the electricity sector. The session allowed the Swiss government to present its solutions on transposition (as part of the new trade framework of negotiations with the EU27) of current long term electricity exchange contracts with France, which benefited from privileged treatment at a network access level. European Commission and Swiss government negotiators also examine Swiss transport network modality use. Possible Swiss collaboration with regional market integration initiatives, the question of congestion management procedures and transit cost compensation were also at the heart of the discussions. Discussions focused on the third legislative package for liberalising the internal energy market, which was definitively adopted at the end of June by the Council, which Berne now believes should work out the impact of the negotiations with Switzerland. The future EU/Swiss agreement includes regulating network access for cross border electricity supplies and harmonising network transit safety standards. Negotiations also focus on cross border access to the market and electricity trade from renewables. (E.H./trans/rh)