Switzerland and the EU currently have an agreement that grants citizens freedom to live and work across Switzerland and the bloc. As part of a new agreement, Switzerland wanted a safeguard clause that would allow Switzerland to unilaterally impose permit quotas for a limited time. On 2 October 2024, the EU said it rejected the idea, reported RTS.
That a unilateral safeguard clause is not acceptable for the EU, is not a surprise. It is difficult to imagine EU negotiators would grant a exception that it does not grant to its member states.
However, the decision, which was communicated by Ursula von der Leyen to Viola Amherd, a member of Switzerland’s federal executive, is a setback for Swiss negotiators and the Federal Council.
On 1 October 2024, when Ms von der Leyen was in Geneva for a celebration of CERN’s 70 year anniversary, she expressed a desire to conclude negotiations by the end of the year, which she reiterated in a post on X.
Now the political question is: whether Switzerland will accept a negotiation result without a unilateral safeguard clause? The Federal Council must decide. And, as is always the case in Switzerland, anything the federal government agrees can by undone by voters in a referendum, a possibility that looms over any negotiations.
In the meantime, negotiations with the EU continue. EU member states will probably look again at the Switzerland-EU question on 15 October 2024.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
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