The American Foreign Policy magazine considered that the relationship between Switzerland and its first economic partner, the European Union, has become characterized by "increasing hostility", especially after Britain's exit from the Union (Brexit), stressing that it will be the first real test for the European bloc in the way it deals with its neighbors Close people.

It quoted the German ambassador in the Swiss capital, Bern, how he was "shocked" - according to what he told a local newspaper - when he was wandering around the city streets and encountered a poster for an extreme right campaign showing a man wearing a belt in the colors of the European Union and sitting on a small map of Switzerland and crushing it with all his weight.

The German official commented on what he saw, saying, "The atmosphere about the European Union in Switzerland has become very negative ... even in some media and social networks it is portrayed as a frightening bogeyman."

The magazine believes that in light of this fraught atmosphere, the President of the Swiss Confederation, Guy Parmelin - a few days ago in an important meeting - met with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen during his first official visit to Brussels, after the relations of the two parties reached a dead end due to Bern's inability to implement an agreement A new institution with Al-Ittihad.

An anti-European far-right billboard on a Zurich street (Reuters)

Strained relationship

Although many likened this strained relationship to what the union’s relationship with the United Kingdom became after Brexit;

This analogy - according to the magazine - is inaccurate, as London seeks to distance itself as much as possible from its former ally, while Bern is working to get closer and closer.

Switzerland - a country that is not a member of the European Union - is keen to expand its relations with the 27 member states, but its main problem - like the London problem - is that it wants at the same time to preserve its sovereignty.

The magazine believes that success in achieving this equation is not an easy thing.

Brussels does not tolerate what it calls "cherry pick" rights without accepting obligations, and cannot grant non-member states privileges that even the members themselves do not enjoy, even though - in a deeply troubled world - it has a great interest in maintaining a good relationship with the countries that share it. Thinking like Switzerland.

After the 1992 referendum - in which Switzerland refused membership in the union - the two sides negotiated a trade agreement, which is considered to this day the reason for the "enthusiasm" of their economic relations. They also signed about 120 other bilateral agreements that are working well.

These agreements guarantee to Switzerland safe access to its products - such as pharmaceuticals, minerals and chemicals - to the European Common Market, in return for its commitment to internal market rules and a modest financial contribution to support the less developed regions of the Union.

Switzerland is also a member of the Schengen Area, which is exempt from border controls, participates in the Erasmus program for student exchange. It is also a partner with EU countries in the fields of scientific research and police cooperation, and is strongly looking forward to its health system and its electricity market.

Some believe that Switzerland enjoys the best that both sides have, that is, access to the largest single market in the world and the freedom to play the sovereignty card whenever it wants, as a study conducted in 2019 indicated that no country benefits more from the European Union single market than Switzerland.

Delegations of Switzerland and the European Union during a previous meeting at the Davos Forum in January 2020 (Reuters)

Intractable

On the other hand, the Swiss are known in Brussels as their "difficult clients". While a country like Norway - which is also a non-member state with broad access to the common market - never questions its financial contribution to the union, Switzerland regularly suspends it in order to meet this or that demand.

The Swiss referendums are also a source of contention, as a referendum on the immigration quota in 2014 violated bilateral agreements with the European Union guaranteeing protection of the free movement of people.

This referendum was the straw that broke the camel's back in the relationship of the two parties, as they both realized the difficulty of managing bilateral agreements between them, which always need to be updated, which requires permanent negotiations, and if one of the parties cancel or violate one bilateral agreement necessarily means the collapse of the rest of the agreements automatically.

After the referendum in 2014, Berne and Brussels began negotiating a new institutional framework that brings together all existing agreements and achieves a kind of stability in implementing their requirements, which allows for a reduction in political tensions and the conclusion of future agreements, as the text of 2018 was agreed upon, but Bern began to criticize the draft and demand the introduction of adjustment; It formulated 3 additional demands that the European Union deems impossible to meet, namely its exemption from government aid rules, social benefits for citizens of the Union, as well as restrictions of the special labor law that would make European companies operating in Switzerland less able to compete against local companies.