– “No insurmountable differences”
The representatives at the interparliamentary meeting between Switzerland and the EU decided on Friday that there are no major political differences.
There are no insurmountable political differences between Switzerland and the EU, the representatives at the Swiss-EU interparliamentary meeting noted on Friday. They expect contacts between the commission and the Federal Council to intensify.
The meeting, which took place in Rapperswil-Jona (SG), resulted in a joint statement by the Swiss representative, Councilor to the States Benedikt Würth, chairman of the delegation of the Federal Assembly to the Association Free Trade Union (EFTA) and the European Parliament, and MEP Andreas Schwab, President of the European Parliament’s Permanent Delegation for Relations with Switzerland.
In the thirteen-point joint statement, the parties underline the importance of maintaining good and stable relations, in an approach that is bilateral for the time being.
They welcome the exploratory discussions underway since last March and hope that these will make it possible to identify “as soon as possible a common basis for the resumption of negotiations” (with a view to concluding an institutional framework agreement).
Litigation: two pillars
The parliaments of the EU and Switzerland “take note” of the remaining differences in approach, with the European Commission favoring “a global solution for structural issues”.
The declaration also underlines the importance of collaboration within the framework of European programs such as Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, Euratom or Digital Europe.
In this respect, the issuance by the Federal Council of a mandate for negotiations on structural issues would represent “the clear political signal required by the EU as a condition for the opening of negotiations with a view to Switzerland’s association with the programs Europeans’ (cited above).
To settle disputes, the parties advocate a two-pillar approach: the European Court of Justice interprets and applies the European acquis and the Federal Court does the same with Swiss law.
For a negotiation mandate
Both parties take note of Switzerland’s position, which considers it necessary to provide support and wage protection measures that go beyond current European law. The EU, for its part, insists that no measure should be discriminatory.
The representatives also agree that Switzerland should reduce to five years the minimum period of stay required to obtain a settlement permit for citizens of the thirteen countries that have joined the EU since 2004 (subject to other criteria such as integration or language proficiency).
More generally, the joint declaration expresses an expectation for an “intensification of contacts between the Federal Council and the European Commission in order to obtain the clarifications and guarantees necessary for the granting of a mandate for negotiations”.
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