Decision in Bern: Switzerland cancels the planned framework agreement with the EU

Switzerland has canceled a planned framework agreement with the EU on bilateral relations after seven years of negotiations.

There was no agreement on key points, said Swiss President Guy Parmelin on Wednesday in Bern.

This meant that the draft contract, which had been on the table since the end of 2018, was not eligible for a majority.

“The Federal Council found that the talks with the EU in three areas did not lead to the necessary solutions.

That is why the Federal Council decided to end the negotiations, ”said Parmelin.

The bilateral agreements between the EU and Switzerland remain in place.

But the European Union warned this week about the consequences Switzerland would have to reckon with without the conclusion of the framework agreement: there would be no further agreements and older agreements might not be updated.

The framework agreement has been negotiated since 2014.

Among

other things,

it should

regulate automatic updates and define how disputes are settled.

However, Switzerland saw new regulations that trade unions, constitutional lawyers and the right wing SVP did not want to accept.

Among other things, it dealt with rules on state aid, measures to protect high Swiss wages and access for EU citizens to Swiss social security funds.

Switzerland is not a member of the EU, but is involved in many European projects through bilateral agreements. It also has access to the EU internal market and in return grants the free movement of people. According to EU data, 1.4 million EU citizens live in Switzerland - including 300,000 Germans - and a good 340,000 EU citizens commute to Switzerland every day. 400,000 Swiss live in the EU.

Trade with the EU accounts for 60 percent of Switzerland's gross domestic product, followed by the USA with just under twelve percent. Conversely, Switzerland is the EU's fourth largest trading partner after the USA, China and Great Britain. One last attempt to save the agreement had actually already failed in April: Parmelin traveled to Brussels for a crisis talk with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. But there was no approximation.