Debate: The future of EU-Swiss relations
Date: WEDNESDAY, 23 JUNE 2021
Speaker: Maroš Šefčovič
Language: EN

The EU and Switzerland are more than just neighbours. Switzerland is an important partner, both economically as our fourth-largest trading partner, and politically, given our shared values. On a daily basis, the free movement of people and goods in particular nurtures a privileged relationship between us. Let me give you a few figures in that respect. In 2020, about 1.5 million EU citizens were living in Switzerland and around 400 000 Swiss were living in the EU. Out of Switzerland’s total workforce of around five million people, some 25% were EU citizens. Some 350 000 of our citizens cross the border daily to work in Switzerland. In parallel, our economic relationships are flourishing. The EU is Switzerland’s largest trading partner by far. Switzerland trades more with the neighbouring regions in Austria, Germany, France and Italy, around EUR 80 billion per year than with the BRIC countries, which is around 63 billion per year. Switzerland trades more with the Grand Est, Bourgogne, Franche—Comté, Auvergne, Rhône-Alpes than with Japan, and Switzerland trades more with Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria than with China. These figures underline how much Switzerland benefits from this privileged access. According to its own data Switzerland gains an estimated EUR 18-27 billion per year from its bilateral relations with the European Union. But despite this deep economic and social integration, there is no overarching framework governing Swiss participation in the internal market. There are no provisions to ensure a level playing field. There are, for example, no provisions for State aid rules, and beyond that there is no satisfactory dispute settlement mechanism ensuring an adequate implementation of our 120 bilateral agreements. Also contrary to the example of the states which are part of both the EEA and EFTA – Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein – there is no compulsory and regular financial contribution from Switzerland to the EU cohesion policy. The last and so far only financial payment from Switzerland dates back to 2012, a whole financial framework cycle ago. Moreover, as time passes, our bilateral agreements are ageing. The EU and Switzerland free trade agreement was concluded 50 years ago, and the package of bilateral I and II agreements was concluded almost 20 years ago. Hence, without any modernisation of these agreements our relations are inevitably eroding over time. It is precisely for all these reasons that the conclusion of an institutional agreement was considered a priority. This was about establishing a level playing field. This is a matter of fairness and integrity of our single market. Anyone operating on the EU single market must face the same rules and obligations. Against this background, our commitment has been irreproachable. President Juncker and President von der Leyen have spoken more than 25 times to six Swiss Presidents. The EU has demonstrated a high level of understanding for the political constraints in Switzerland and showed a willingness to compromise. The list is long: from a dispute settlement mechanism based on an arbitral tribunal and not on the European Court of Justice only, through a two-pillar system for State aid, and not only the EU rules, to a protocol dedicated to the protection of the Swiss labour market. Allow me to emphasise here that high levels of social protection and full respect of the principle of equal pay for equal work are as important for the EU as they are for Switzerland. We also agreed to limit the scope of the agreement to five existing agreements although there are 120 of them, and we agreed not to enshrine in the agreement itself legally binding provisions on the Swiss financial contribution to the EU cohesion policy, only a joint political declaration, but still recalling that this contribution is a natural and fair consequence of participating in the single market. In November 2018 we thought we had found a balanced solution for both parties. However, the Swiss Government in June 2019 announced that it needed clarifications on three issues: on State aid, on the protection of wages in Switzerland, and on the free movement of persons. We had immediately offered to work on these issues, but our Swiss friends needed some time. In January this year, discussions restarted and we re-engaged constructively by making concrete and robust proposals to address these concerns. On 23 April when meeting the Swiss President, Guy Parmelin, President von der Leyen was of the firm opinion that a deal was possible provided that both sides showed flexibility, but our offers were not picked up and finally on 26 May the Swiss Federal Council took the decision to terminate the negotiations on an institutional framework agreement with us. This is not our choice and we can only regret this decision. The solution to the difficulties is gone, but problems remain. We therefore need to reflect collectively on how we can move forward and ensure that our bilateral relationship continues to flourish while ensuring a fair balance of rights and obligations. For this we need time to carefully review our agreements with Switzerland. We should identify the problems precisely and find solutions. We are determined to find the best way possible for the bilateral relationship with Switzerland to work most effectively.