Last week, Switzerland agreed with Britain to maintain the flow of information on organised crime and terrorism even if the UK leaves the EU with a no-deal.
Karin Keller-Sutter and British Home Secretary Sajid Javid signed the contracts in London, according to a government press release.
Should Britain leave the EU without a deal, “all information from the British security services will be deleted from key EU databases such as the Schengen Information System,” read a Swiss government statement. “In this case Switzerland, as indeed all other states in the Schengen Area, would no longer have access to this valuable information, making it all the more necessary to find alternative forms of cooperation and other information channels.”
Switzerland already has agreements on bilateral cooperation on policing matters with 16 countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Austria and some eastern European states.
Keller-Sutter also rubber-stamped a previously announced deal covering workers taking up employment in each other’s respective countries. Switzerland and Britain have already agreed to preserve the rights for existing jobs. The so-called “fallback agreement” goes one step to safeguard future access of new Swiss workers to the British labour market and the interests of firms in Switzerland seeking to recruit new British employees.
This agreement would only enter into force in the event of a no-deal Brexit and is limited in duration until December 31, 2020. In the event of an orderly Brexit the EU free movement of persons principle will continue to apply.
Government press release (in English)
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