On 15 December 2023, Switzerland’s Federal Council approved a draft negotiating mandate with the EU. Negotiations should begin as soon as the EU and Swiss government definitively approve the mandate, reported SRF.
The draft mandate is the result of around 70 meetings between Switzerland and the EU at various levels.
The document creates the conditions required for the start of negotiations, said the government.
The mandate aims at new agreements in the areas of electricity, food safety and health. It also envisages an agreement on systematic participation in EU programs as well as regular cohesion contributions to the EU, although the cost of these remains open.
In contrast to the recently failed Institutional Framework Agreement, institutional questions are to be integrated into individual internal market agreements. These will cover the free movement of people, land transport, air transport, and technical barriers to trade and agriculture. In addition, an electricity agreement is to be negotiated. Only three internal market agreements are to include aid provisions: electricity, air transport and land transport.
In addition, the purview of the EU Court of Justice will be narrower. And the super guillotine clause, which triggered the end of the whole agreement if one aspect was contravened, has been removed. Instead the document refers to “proportional compensation measures”.
Thanks to this joint declaration, Switzerland and the EU have come a long way, said Ignazio Cassis, Switzerland’s foreign minister. Everything can be discussed again from both sides, but many open points are about small details, he said.
The draft mandate is now being discussed in parliament and by cantonal governments. The final negotiating mandate should be available in two to three months once this process is completed. On the EU side, the EU Commission still has to approve the draft mandate, something likely to happen next Wednesday.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
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