Switzerland: ”Improve EU relations” - but how?

For the European Union a reality check, as good as good as they come: EU roars, but Switzerland not moved (3 January 2011).


Official EU and Swiss positions

The official views and expectations of the European Union with regard to Switzerland were defined by the General Affairs Council (GAC):

Council conclusions on EU relations with EFTA countries; 3060th GENERAL AFFAIRS Council meeting Brussels, 14 December 2010

In September 2010 the Swiss Federal Council (government) had adopted a report on the relationship between the Confederation and the European Union. You can link to the fresh position paper:

An overview of the Federal Council’s Report on the Evaluation of Switzerland’s European Policy (published 17 September 2010; a nine page summary in English)

For the full report of about a hundred pages you have to choose one of the official languages of Switzerland, German, French or Italian:

Bericht des Bundesrates über die Evaluation der schweizerischen Europapolitik

Rapport du Conseil fédéral sur l’évaluation de la politique européenne de la Suisse

Rapporto del Consiglio federale sulla valutazione della politica europea svizzera


Swiss government discussion

Before Christmas the Swiss federal government had a first discussion about the conclusions by the EU ministers about the relations with EFTA member Switzerland.

I failed to find any official documentation, so we have to look at media reports from and reactions to the press briefing 22 December 2010.


Media reactions

According to Basler Zeitung, the Swiss Federal Council (government) rejected EU criticism of how Switzerland applied treaties with the European Union: Der Bundesrat trotzt der EU (22 December 2010).

SR DRS reported that the European Union wants automatic Swiss adaptation to EU law, but that this is out of the question for the Federal Council: Beziehungen zur EU: Stillstand (22 December 2010).

Neither the EU nor the government of Switzerland want to move from their earlier positions, reported Swissinfo.ch: Beziehungen Schweiz-EU: Optionen für Zukunft liegen auf dem Tisch (22 December 2010).

The Basler Zeitung came to the conclusion that the bilateral model is the only option, but the relationship between Switzerland and the European Union needs a new thrust: Zeit für den grossen Kuhhandel (23 December 2010).

The newspaper describes the Swiss position in the following terms:

Für Bern ist aber klar: Eine automatische Übernahme von EU-Recht, wie sie Brüssel faktisch fordert, liegt nicht drin. Innenpolitisch ist nur eine Lösung durchsetzbar, die Mitsprache, genügend Zeit für die Umsetzung neuer Regeln und ein Schiedsgericht vorsieht und auf Automatismen verzichtet. Alles andere kollidiert mit dem Schweizer Politsystem und seinen Abläufen und hilft der SVP – diese wartet bloss darauf, dem Bundesrat im Wahljahr 2011 einen europapolitischen Kniefall vorwerfen zu können.

The Basler Zeitung is worth reading for its views on important dossiers, as well as for its evaluation of the chances for agreement on the whole.


Micheline Calmy-Rey

On 1 January 2011 foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey became the president of the Swiss Confederation for a year, and on the same day SwissInfo.ch published an interview where she presented her views on the year ahead: "Mehr Selbstvertrauen statt Selbstkritik", headlined ”New president urges more self-confidence” in the English translation.

President Calmy-Rey wants to improve EU relations:

DRS: Switzerland is facing important decisions in its European policy. How can you make the climate in Switzerland more favourable towards Brussels?

M.C.-R.: Consolidating relations with the EU is one of the priorities of my presidential year. These relations need to be as good as they can be, since the EU is our most important political and economic partner.

So far we have followed the bilateral path. The results of this path have been good as far as the economic and security are concerned.

But as far as our sovereignty goes, the results have been more mixed. We have adopted a lot of things from the EU, such as developments in the legal area, but we cannot have our own say. That is not something I can be satisfied with.

The EU says that the 120 agreements [including the bilaterals I and II] incurred a great deal of work, so relations must be simplified. It argues that we have profited from our access to its market with its 500 million consumers. So it claims we should also adopt EU regulations.

But as a non-EU-member, on the basis of our sovereignty, we say “no” to the automatic adoption of EU law. Should we embark on such discussions, our democratic rights such as initiatives and referendums would have to be preserved.

The discussions about ”horisontal” issues of streamlined adoption and homogenous implementation of EU law have actually started at working group level, but president Calmy-Rey offers no concrete suggestions as to how to improve the relationship.

Lamenting the lack of influence and the potential offer of (political level) discussions seem to be the only concessions, and if constitutional initiatives and referendums exclude all automaticity, we have difficulties seeing how the EU and Switzerland can make progress.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. ”EU questions Hungary as presidency opens”, writes The Irish Times, one of the many articles I hope that EPP president Wilfried Martens reads as he ponders the founding values of the European Union, as well as the principle of non-discrimination and fundamental rights in the EU. The biggest political group has the greatest responsibility towards the citizens.

EU roars, but Switzerland not moved

Yesterday we looked at the fresh foreign policy position paper of one of the important Swiss political parties, FDP. Die Liberalen, which confirmed our picture that Switzerland is deeply dug in with its bilateral European policy credo: European Union: The Swiss entrenched (FDP. The Liberals) (2 January 2011).


Media reception of EU conclusions

Here are a few media reports which reflect the reception of the conclusions of the Council of the European Union.

Leigh Phillips on Euobserver.com highlighted the controversial issues in the conclusions of the EU's General Affairs Council: EU to Switzerland: 'Where are we going with this relationship?' (15 December 2010).

Almost in real time, the online community newspaper Genevalunch.com presented both selected criticism from the EU Council and the same day defence from the Swiss Integration Office: Swiss, EU, agree to disagree – for now – over taxes, bilateral approach (14 December 2010).

On the day of the EU GAC conclusions, Swissinfo.ch noted the increasingly strident language from the European Union, but Swiss experts were far from shocked: EU reprimand will have little impact on Bern (14 December 2010).

In a nutshell:

In Switzerland, experts are predicting there will be little fallout from the findings of the Council of the EU.

The article is worth reading for its discussion of individual issues as well.

***

The EU giant has roared, but Swiss experts expect nothing much to happen. A sobering thought for the member states who have created the European Union.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. The Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht has posted in English a blog post written by the Hungarian journalist Judit Bayer: What's the Problem with the Hungarian Media Law? You could ask @MartensEPP, @epptweet and @EPPGroup on Twitter to dedicate 2011 to the founding values of and the fundamental rights in the European Union, starting at the top: #EuTrioHu



Read Kopfzeiler ”Ungarn: Offener Brief an Botschaft und EU – Zu Ungarns Medienzensurgesetz” (part German, part English), and then do you bit for media freedom in Europe.

European Union: The Swiss entrenched (FDP. The Liberals)

Yesterday's blog post tried to be clear enough about official Swiss insistence on the bilateral nature of the relationship with the European Union: EU and Switzerland disagree on relationship (1 January 2011).

If anyone needs convincing, Simon Gemperli described in NZZ Online how FDP. Die Liberalen (FDP. The Liberals) sent Switzerland's applications to join the European Union and the European Economic Area to the scrapheep of history: FDP schwört dem EU-Beitritt ab (18 October 2010)

Die FDP ist gegen einen Beitritt zur EU, gegen einen EWR-Vertrag und gegen ein Rahmenabkommen, stattdessen bekennt sich die Partei zum konventionellen bilateralen Weg – Ende der Botschaft, auf die sich die Delegierten in Herisau im Hinblick aufs Wahljahr geeinigt haben.

Those who are interested in more detail can look at the international position paper of FDP. The Liberals (in German):

16. Oktober 2010 Positionspapier der FDP.Die Liberalen: Die Schweiz in einer globalisierten Welt Selbstbewusste Aussenpolitik, Freihandel und aktive Vermittlung zwischen Konfliktparteien (7 pages)

The Swiss Liberals are now singing from the bilataral hymn sheet with the rest of the political establishment. The programme defines the general characteristics of Swiss foreign policy in four paragraphs before it introduces European policies:

Aussenpolitik bleibt auch Europapolitik. Trotz globaler Ausrichtung: Die Schweiz liegt im Herzen Europas. Mit dem benachbarten Europa sind wir politisch, wirtschaftlich, kulturell und sozial eng verbunden. Ein gutes Verhältnis mit Europa ist zentral. Seine Institutionen und Staaten bleiben eine Priorität unserer Aussenpolitik, denn der Erfolg unseres Denk-, Werk- und Finanzplatzes setzt ein politisch stabiles und wirtschaftlich dynamisches europäisches Umfeld voraus. Deshalb ist auch unser Beitrag zur Stabilität des vereinten Kontinents im Interesse der Schweiz. Unsere Beziehungen zu Europa bedürfen weiterhin einer soliden Basis: den Bilateralen Verträgen. Sie sind auszubauen, wo es dem gegenseitigen Interesse entspricht. Andernorts verpflichtet der Freiraum als Drittstaat unsere Politik zur konsequenten strategischen Weiterentwicklung und Nutzung unserer Standortvorteile.

After the introduction the programme goes into more detail (pages 3 to 5), worth quoting to get acquainted with a Swiss view on Europe:

3. Europa: Dank den Bilateralen die EU als Chance verstehen


Die EU ist politisch, kulturell und wirtschaftlich unser wichtigster Partner. Das Verhältnis zwischen der Schweiz und der EU ist eng und gut. Die Schweiz ist der drittgrösste Warenlieferant und der zweitgrösste Kunde der EU. Auch wenn die Märkte der Schwellenländer rasant an Bedeutung gewinnen – mit 60 Prozent der Ausfuhren und 80 Prozent der Einfuhren bleibt die EU unser wichtigster Handelspartner. Jeder dritte Arbeitsplatz hängt am Handel mit der EU. Ebenso wichtig ist die Personenfreizügigkeit: Rund 870'000 EU-Bürger leben hier – umgekehrt sind 380'000 Schweizer im EU-Ausland ansässig. Die EU ist für die Schweiz keine Bedrohung, sondern eine Chance. Gleiches gilt für die EU: Sie kann vom Föderalismus, dem Einbezug der Bevölkerung in der direkten Demokratie oder Instrumenten wie der aus der FDP-Schmiede stammenden Schuldenbremse profitieren.

Die Schweiz muss die engen und privilegierten Beziehungen mit der EU wahren und weiter entwickeln. Der bewährte bilaterale Weg ist die beste Lösung für die Schweiz, um die Beziehungen mit der EU gezielt zu pflegen und auszubauen. So haben die bilateralen Verträge der Schweiz in den vergangenen Jahren wirtschaftliche Prosperität und Austausch mit dem europäischen Ausland gebracht – ohne dass wir unsere Souveränität aufgeben mussten.

Auch in Zukunft ist der bilaterale Weg erfolgsversprechend. Er bietet der Schweiz die Möglichkeit, die Beziehungen mit der EU gezielt dort auszubauen, wo unser Standort und Wohlstand gestärkt werden. Auch die EU hat Interesse an der Weiterführung des Bilateralismus, wie wiederholte Gesuche um neue Vereinbarungen zeigen. Anderslautende Thesen mit Abgesängen auf den Bilateralen Weg überzeugen nicht. Dieser Weg bietet der Schweiz weiterhin die einzigartige Chance, ihren Freiraum als unabhängiger Staat gezielt und bewusst zu nutzen. Alternativen zum bilateralen Weg gibt es zurzeit keine. So ist eine Abschottung in einem „Alleingang“ keine Option für die Schweiz. Ebenso wenig kommt ein EU- oder ein EWR-Beitritt in Frage. Diese Ansicht teilt eine grosse Mehrheit der Bürgerinnen und Bürger. Ein Beitritt wäre auch wegen höherer Mehrwertsteuern und Transferzahlungen an die EU unpopulär. EU und EWR würden der Schweiz keinen Mehrwert bringen.

Forderung 4: Der bewährte bilaterale Weg ist die beste Lösung für die Schweiz, um die Beziehungen mit der EU gezielt zu pflegen und auszubauen. Die FDP setzt sich daher für eine Fortführung und gezielte Verstärkung des erfolgreichen bilateralen Weges ein. Weder eine Abschottung in einem „Alleingang“, noch ein EU- oder EWR-Beitritt sind aktuelle Optionen. Damit ist aus Sicht der FDP das Beitrittsgesuch an die Europäische Gemeinschaft von 1992
gegenstandslos.

Der Bilaterale Weg ist erfolgreich und bei der Bevölkerung fest verankert. Auch wenn Verhandlungen durch institutionelle Veränderungen auf EU-Seite uns künftig mehr fordern, ist das kein Grund, die Segel zu streichen. Vielmehr verlangt dies eine Stärkung unserer Vertretung in den EU-Mitgliedstaaten sowie in Brüssel sowie eine kluge Europapolitik. Diese umfasst folgende Stossrichtungen:


3.1 Gezielter Ausbau des bilateralen Wegs


Um den Standort Schweiz und unseren Wohlstand, sowie die Beziehungen zur EU zu stärken, muss die Schweiz den bilateralen Weg gezielt mit weiteren sektoriellen Verträgen ausbauen. Der komplexere Verhandlungsweg mit der EU verlangt dabei zuerst eine vertiefte Prüfung der Interessenlage. Die Schweiz soll nicht in einer Vielzahl nicht zentraler Bereiche als Antragssteller auftreten, da dies unsere Verhandlungsposition schwächt. Gemeinsame Interessen bestehen namentlich bei Elektrizität, Öffentlicher Gesundheit, geschützten Ursprungsbezeichnungen, dem Satellitennavigationssystem Galileo, dem Agrarfreihandel und der Sicherheitspolitik.

In vielen Bereichen ist die Übernahme von EU-Normen im Interesse unserer Unternehmen und des Standorts Schweiz, etwa im Rahmen des Cassis-de-Dijon-Prinzips. So werden unsere Unternehmen möglichst wenig durch EU-Normen behindert. Das bedeutet aber nicht, dass EU-Recht automatisch nachvollzogen werden soll – im Gegenteil: EU-Recht soll somit nur dann nachvollzogen werden, wenn es im Interesse der Schweiz liegt.

Bisher wenig beachtet wurde das Entstehen eines Europäischen Sicherheitsraums, der sich im Zuge der Erweiterung der EU markant ausgedehnt hat. Die Gemeinsame Aussen- und Sicherheitspolitik (GSVP) wird zum immer wichtigeren Akteur. Aus sicherheits- und finanzpolitischen Überlegungen ist eine engere Zusammenarbeit im Rahmen der GSVP unter Wahrung der Neutralität anzustreben. Ziel ist ein Beobachterstatus bei der GSVP und der für Forschung und Beschaffung wichtigen europäischen Verteidigungsagentur.

Forderung 5: Die FDP fordert den Abschluss weiterer bilateraler Verträge insbesondere in den Bereichen Elektrizität, öffentliche Gesundheit, geschützte Ursprungsbezeichnungen, Satellitennavigation-System Galileo, Agrarfreihandel sowie Chemikalienkontrolle (REACH).

Forderung 6: Die FDP fordert eine engere Zusammenarbeit im Rahmen der GSVP unter Wahrung der Neutralität. Es sollen Verhandlungen aufgenommen werden, um die Zusammenarbeit im militärischen und zivilen Sicherheitsbereich mit der EU zu systematisieren, zu strukturieren und auf eine solide rechtliche Basis zu stellen.


3.2. Als Drittstaat Freiraum gezielt und bewusst nutzen


Nicht in allen Bereichen sind weitere Bilaterale Verträge sinnvoll. Bei der Handelspolitik, der Steuerpolitik oder immer mehr auch beim Arbeitsrecht ist unser Freiraum als Drittstaat eine Verpflichtung für eine bewusste und strategische Standortpolitik. Dank eigenständiger Handelspolitik kann die Schweiz vom Protektionismus der grossen Handelsblöcke profitieren und rasch mit aufstrebenden Schwellenländern Freihandelsverträge abschliessen. Ein flexibler Arbeitsmarkt ist zentral für eine niedrige Arbeitslosigkeit und Steuerwettbewerb garantiert gleichzeitig tiefe Schulden und tiefe Steuern.

Diesen Freiraum hat die Schweiz selbstbewusst zu verteidigen. Als Landesregierung muss der Bundesrat potenzielle Konflikte antizipieren und ausgebrochene Krisen wie etwa den immer noch schwelenden Steuerstreit proaktiv mit Reformvorschlägen angehen. Diese sichern unsere Standortvorteile ab oder verstärken sie gar und beseitigen und Rechtsunsicherheit. Vor allem aber gilt ein Auftrag an die Politik, den Freiraum als Drittstaat strategisch zu nutzen und die Schweiz als international offene Plattform zu positionieren.

Forderung 7: Den Freiraum eines Drittstaats hat die Schweiz gezielt und strategisch zu nutzen. Der Bundesrat präsentiert für die kommende Legislatur eine entsprechende Strategie.


3.3 Erweiterungsbeitrag als Friedens- und Stabilitätsdividende


Dank der EU und ihrer Vorläuferorganisationen herrscht in Westeuropa seit Jahrzehnten Frieden. Davon profitiert die Exportnation Schweiz. Unser Land ist bereit, ihren Beitrag zum wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Zusammenwachsen der EU zu leisten. Nicht als ein Preis für den Bilateralen Weg, sondern als integraler Bestandteil der schweizerischen Europapolitik. Dieser Beitrag ist wichtig für eine weiterhin erfolgreiche Interessenwahrung gegenüber der EU. Schweizer Unternehmen leisten grosse Investitionen und Wissenstransfer in viele EU-Staaten. Allfällige freiwillige finanzielle Beiträge der Schweiz sind selbstbewusst zu diskutieren und mit Forderungen wie Mitbestimmung bei der Mittelverwendung samt Teilnahme von Schweizer Unternehmen zu verknüpfen.

In French

The Swiss Liberal foreign policy position paper is available in French as well:

16 octobre 2010 Papier de position du PLR.Les Libéraux-Radicaux: La Suisse face à la mondialisation Politique extérieure autonome, libre-échange et médiation active entre les parties en conflit


In summary

A free summary: Not only are EU and EEA membership scrapped, but there are no promises about more streamlined procedures for the adoption of (new) EU acquis (legislation, case-law and practice). Mutual recognition is preferred ahead of harmonisation of legislation. Switzerland shall not be seen as begging for new bilateral treaties in other than a few high priority areas. It is in the interest of Switzerland to fight tooth and nail for every competitive advantage.

There seems to be a small error in the references to the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) ”Gemeinsame Aussen- und Sicherheitspolitik” = GASP and the common security and defence policy (CSDP) ”Gemeinsame Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik” = GSVP, but substantially the Liberals want Switzerland to be able to participate in building the European security architecture, as long as Switzerland can remain neutral when it wants to and promote its industrial interests at every turn.

The Liberals are, in principle, ready for the Swiss Confederation to continue with voluntary contributions to economic and social cohesion in Europe, if Switzerland can influence how the funds are used and they profit Swiss businesses.

Everything is based on interests, little on values.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Customary European People's Party note to editors: ”The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre-right, which currently includes 73 member-parties from 39 countries, the Presidents of the Commission, Council, and Parliament, 14 EU and 6 non-EU heads of state and government, 13 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament.”

My question: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?



The authoritarian media law in Hungary (and other anti-pluralistic media orders) got the backing of the European People´s Party president Wilfried Martens. Again the Swedish MEP Gunnar Hökmark gained my respect by taking a principled approach, now to media freedom. Hökmark is the only well-known EPP profile to do so that I have managed to find since the clear condemnation by Jean Asselborn, foreign minister of Luxembourg, but it is nice to know that the EPP is not totally corrupted by cronyism.

EU and Switzerland disagree on relationship

As we saw in the previous blog entries 'EU relations with Switzerland: End of the road for bilateral model' (30 December 2010) and 'EU conclusions regarding Switzerland' (31 December 2010), the General Affairs Council (GAC) gave the impression that the European Union is fed up with the administration of 179 bilateral agreements with EFTA country Switzerland:

Council conclusions on EU relations with EFTA countries; 3060th GENERAL AFFAIRS Council meeting Brussels, 14 December 2010


Swiss approach

The official approach of Switzerland is in marked contrast with the EU aspirations. I quote the second paragraph of the ”Welcome!” page of the Integration Office, adding only boldface:

Switzerland's policy towards Europe is based on bilateral negotiations. Cooperation takes the form of bilateral agreements between Switzerland and the EU in specific areas. Beginning with the Free Trade Agreement of 1972 a whole series of bilateral agreements have been concluded step by step, notably in bilateral negotiation rounds I and II. As well as creating the conditions for mutual access to each other's markets, these agreements serve as the basis for close cooperation in areas including research, security, asylum policy, culture and the environment. This bilateral approach has been the foundation stone for Switzerland's policy of openness and cooperation with its European neighbours. The process has been endorsed by the people in a number of referenda.

It is hard to miss five ”bilateral” in a fairly short paragraph.

On the same web page there is a link to the 14 December 2010 statement of the Integration Office about the GAC conclusions.

The statement noted that the EU Council expressed criticism of several aspects of the relations. The Integration Office responded to the criticism:

 The present bilateral agreements with the EU are working well. Although specific matters relating to the application of these agreements are often discussed, given the intensity of the bilateral relations between Switzerland and the EU, this is normal. Switzerland criticises for example the fact that Swiss employers are required to contribute to the holiday pay funds of various EU member states, even though they already pay these contributions in Switzerland. Problems concerning interpretation of agreements can as a rule be discussed between the States concerned or within the framework of the Mixed Committee.

 In our view, the accompanying measures on the free movement of persons are overall in conformity with the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons (FZA) and constitute appropriate measures to protect employees. Switzerland is not the only country to have insisted on such measures. A number of EU member states have also introduced such measures on the basis of a corresponding EU directive (concerning the posting of workers). Experience has shown that the accompanying measures are necessary to protect wages and working conditions in Switzerland. In this context for example, checks carried out by labour inspectors revealed breaches in one fifth of cases.

The free movement of persons has been a major factor in intensifying the bilateral relations between Switzerland and the EU. Today, over one million EU citizens live in Switzerland and over 200,000 people from the EU cross the border every day to work into Switzerland. Between 2006 and 2008, the number of cross-border services provided in Switzerland rose by around 25 percent. The EU benefits greatly from its free movement agreement with Switzerland.

 In previous discussions, Switzerland has put forward constructive proposals on specific cantonal tax regimes. However, these proposals were rejected by at least one EU member state. Switzerland has demonstrated a constructive approach to other areas of tax policy by considering, for example, a possible revision of the bilateral agreement on the taxation of savings income, and has even expressed its willingness, under certain conditions, to enter into a dialogue with the EU on the code of conduct on corporate taxation.

 Swiss regional policy is designed to promote innovation and increase value added in the rural and mountainous regions of the country. Tax concessions at federal level have only a marginal effect and are only provided for structurally weak regions. Only 10 percent of the Swiss population live in those regions where such tax concessions can be granted. Swiss regional policy measures are not anti-competitive.

 Switzerland has been supporting Central and Eastern European countries since the beginning of the 1990s within the framework of its assistance to countries in transition. It has continued this policy since 2007 by granting a contribution to reduce social and economic disparities in the enlarged EU and, in 2010, the scope of the contribution was extended to include Romania and Bulgaria. The Federal Council will decide at an appropriate time and in the context of the country's overall relations with the EU whether to maintain this support. In making this decision, the Federal Council will take past experience of the enlargement contribution into consideration as well as the needs of the recipient states.

 On 18 August 2010, the Federal Council set up an informal Swiss/EU working group with a remit to discuss with the European Commission the possible horizontal institutional provisions of future agreements between Switzerland and the EU. The working group is looking at the possibility of dynamically adjusting the agreements to comply with new EU legislation, how to ensure the coherent application and consistent interpretation of future agreements, and the development of an effective dispute procedure. We share these aims with the EU. Any solution must respect the sovereignty of both parties and the efficient operation of their institutions.

On 18 August 2010 at a special meeting dedicated to EU matters, the Federal Council decided that Switzerland would continue to conduct its relations with the EU on the basis of bilateral sector agreements. The Federal Council considers that the bilateral way is currently the most suitable way to ensure the necessary convergence of Switzerland's and the EU's respective interests.

The statement of the Integration Office reflects the views expressed by the Swiss Federal Council (government), summarised in English on the web page Report on the Evaluation of Switzerland's European Policy. On the web page there is a link to a nine page summary (in English):

An overview of the Federal Council’s Report on the Evaluation of Switzerland’s European Policy (published 17 September 2010)

For the full report of about a hundred pages you have to opt for one of the official languages of Switzerland, German, French or Italian:

Bericht des Bundesrates über die Evaluation der schweizerischen Europapolitik

Rapport du Conseil fédéral sur l’évaluation de la politique européenne de la Suisse

Rapporto del Consiglio federale sulla valutazione della politica europea svizzera


Bargaining

On the face of it, we get the impression that the EU and Switzerland disagree about the very nature of their future relationship. Switzerland does not even promise to pay anything for its access to the internal market by promoting social and economic cohesion.

However, 'Can't live with them, can't live without them' practically forces the European Union and Switzerland to find an accommodation they can both claim as a victory with regard to new EU acquis.

That still leaves different taxation issues and assorted other matters to be hammered out.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. The European Citizen noticed that the president of the European People's Party Wilfried Martens chose to defend the media law of the Hungarian EPP member party Fidesz. I would hope for the EPP to start putting the founding values of the European Union and the fundamental rights of EU citizens above the media models of Orbán and Berlusconi.

EU and Switzerland: Bilateral treaties and challenges

Since Switzerland is outside the European Union (EU) as well as the European Economic Area (EEA), the relations have been developed mainly on the basis of bilateral agreements. The Treaties Office of the European Commission’s DG External Relations offers access to the existing EU-Switzerland treaties, bilateral and multilateral, 175 in all.




DG Trade presents an overview of trade with Switzerland, noting that:

Switzerland's main trading partner is the EU. On the other hand, Switzerland is currently the fourth largest trading partner of the EU. Trade figures in 2008 show €80 billion in imports and €97.6 billion in exports. In terms of imports, Switzerland was the EU's 5th most important trading partner in 2008, after the US, China, Russia and Norway. Regarding exports, Switzerland was the 3rd after the US and Russia in the same period.

The presentation contains on overview of how the agreements have developed, including the Bilateral I package (in force from June 2002) and the Bilateral II package (signed in October 2004).




Among the 130 Commission Delegations and Offices, the European Union has a Delegation in Berne, Switzerland (for Liechtenstein as well). The New Year’s greeting (available in German, French and Italian) by the Head of Delegation Michael Reiterer is refreshingly free from empty phrases. Instead Reiterer outlines the macro level challenges ahead and digs into new areas of cooperation as well as unresolved issues on the table, such as tax fraud and evasion.




More information about the history of cooperation and ongoing issues is offered on the web page (here the German version) Die EU und die Schweiz and further topical links:


Agrarfreihandel


On trade in agricultural goods:

Ein allfälliges Abkommen im Agrar- und Lebensmittelbereich (FHAL) liegt im beiderseitigen Interesse der EU und der Schweiz.


Beihilfendiskussion


State aid:

Die Europäische Kommission hat im Februar 2007 eine Beihilfenentscheidung getroffen. Die EU hat eine Beihilfenentscheidung getroffen, was nicht ausreichend zur Kenntnis genommen wird, weshalb auch von "Steuerstreit" gesprochen wird.


Elektrizität


Electricity:

Ein Elektrizitätsabkommen zur Sicherung der Energieversorgung, zur Regelung des Transits und zur Teilnahme der Schweiz am europäischen Elekrtizitätsbinnenmarkt liegt im beidseitigen Interesse der EU und der Schweiz.


Erweiterungsbeitrag


Participation in cohesion policy costs:

Die Kohäsionspolitik der Europäischen Union hat zum Ziel, die Unterschiede im wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungsstand der europäischen Regionen zu verringern. Damit soll der wirtschaftliche und soziale Zusammenhalt innerhalb der EU verstärkt werden. Die Schweiz profitiert dank ihrer bilateralen Abkommen, welche sie mit der EU abgeschlossen hat, direkt von jeder Erweiterung der Union, weshalb die EU die Schweizer Behörden einlud, einen Beitrag an die europäische Kohäsion zu leisten.


Personenfreizügigkeit


Free movement of persons:

Personenfreizügigkeit zwischen der Schweiz und der EU.


Schengen


Cooperation in the Schengen area:

Im Rahmen der Schengen Zusammenarbeit wird der Reiseverkehr erleichtert, indem die systematischen Personenkontrollen an den gemeinsamen Grenzen zwischen den Schengen-Staaten aufgehoben werden.


Zinsbesteuerung


Taxation of savings income:

Die Richtlinie regelt die Besteuerung von Zinserträgen, welche an natürliche Personen in einem EU-Mitgliedstaat ausserhalb ihres eigenen Wohnsitzstaates gezahlt werden.


Zollsicherheit


Customs security cooperation:

Aus Sicherheitsgründen sind Wirtschaftsteilnehmer verpflichtet, die Zollbehörden im voraus über Waren zu informieren, die in das Zollgebiet der EU ein- oder aus diesem ausgeführt werden. Das betrifft zu einem grossen Teil auch die Schweiz.






Ralf Grahn








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At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

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By the way, I also discuss European issues, including the relations between the EU and Switzerland, in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

EFTA member Switzerland outside EEA and EU

The relationship between Switzerland and the European Union is of interest to governments, businesses and residents, including expats.


Yesterday, in the Grahnlaw blog post Internal market: Switzerland at the heart of Europe? we highlighted the briefing paper commissioned by the European Parliament on the complex relationship between the European Union and Switzerland with regard to the internal market:



Christa Tobler, Jeroen Hardenbol & Balázs Mellár: Internal Market beyond the EU: EEA and Switzerland (PE 429.993; January 2010; 65 pages).

In this blog post we present references to some basic materials on Switzerland’s relations with the rest of Europe.



Switzerland is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), together with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. However, unlike the three others, Switzerland is not a part of the European Economic Area (EEA).



For a fairly updated general presentation of EFTA, see This is EFTA 2009 (January 2009; 36 pages).



The latest annual update is the 48th Annual Report of the European Free Trade Association 2008 (March 2009; 52 pages).



In English and with further links, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO offers general information about EFTA, the European Policy of Switzerland and Bilateral Agreements Switzerland – European Union.



Through the web page Bilateral agreements Switzerland-EU you can access a brochure from August 2009 with further information: Bilateral agreements Switzerland-EU (44 pages)



There is also a page with links to Other files Switzerland-EU.




For a more political Swiss view on why Switzerland remains outside both the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA), you can read the article by Werner Wüthrich: The Future Belongs to Lean Organizations like EFTA (Current Concerns No 1, January 2010).




Ralf Grahn







P.S. Sooner or later, I believe, the European Union has to become more openly and directly party political in order to be understood and approved by EU citizens.

Heralding this future of active citizens are the bilingual mirror blogs by a French PES activist: Eurosocialist in English and Eurosocialiste in French. Her motto is: A socialist view on Europe, a European view on socialism.

Eurosocialist/Eurosocialiste are listed among 522 great Euroblogs (at the latest count) on growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

Internal market: Switzerland at the heart of Europe?

German government frets over morality of paying tax informer, reports Deutsche Welle (2 February 2010). Should Germany pay 2.5 million euros to buy stolen bank data of 1,500 people suspected of tax evasion?



Geographically Switzerland is at the heart of Europe, with four EU neighbours even the European Union, but the Swiss Confederation of 7.7 million inhabitants is an exception in its relations with the European Union. It is an EFTA member, but (formally) not even a part of the European Economic Area (EEA). The news item above reminded us of long-standing unresolved issues between the Swiss and the EU member states.



The European Parliament has commissioned a study on the complex bilateral relationship between the European Union and Switzerland with regard to the internal market:

Christa Tobler, Jeroen Hardenbol & Balázs Mellár: Internal Market beyond the EU: EEA and Switzerland (PE 429.993; January 2010; 65 pages).



In this post we are content to indicate the contents, but I expect to return to the issues in blog posts on my euroblogs in English, Finnish and Swedish:


CONTENTS
Contents 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6

1. INTRODUCTION 8

2. EU RELATIONS WITH SWITZERLAND AND THE EEA STATES 10
2.1. Relevant agreements and the existing legal framework between Switzerland and the EU 10
2.2. EU-EEA relations 12

3. THE FUNCTIONING OF AN EXTENDED INTERNAL MARKET WITH SWITZERLAND 15
3.1. The material scope of bilateral law 15
3.1.1. Free movement of goods 15
3.1.2. Free movement of persons 16
3.1.3. Free movement of services 17
3.1.4. Free movement of capital 17
3.2. The temporal scope of bilateral law 18
3.2.1. The status of primary and secondary law 18
3.2.2. Temporal limits in relation to the interpretation of bilateral law 19
3.2.3. Entry into force of the Agreement on the free movement of persons in relation to the EU Member States that joined the Union in 2004 and 2007 21
3.3. The substantive meaning of free movement 22
3.3.1. General remarks 22
3.3.2. Free movement of goods under the FTA 22
3.3.3. Free movement of persons and services under the FMPA 24
3.4. Enforcement 29

4. THE FUNCTIONING OF AN EXTENDED INTERNAL MARKET WITH THE EEA STATES 30

5. AN EXTENDED INTERNAL MARKET – CHALLENGES AND FUTURE PROSPECTS 32
5.1. The EEA and Switzerland: Two different models of integration 32
5.2. The future EU relations with Switzerland 32
5.2.1. Challenges 32
5.2.2. An outlook on Swiss-EU policy 36
5.3. The future EU relations with the EEA States 39
5.3.1. Challenges 39

6. CONCLUSIONS 41
6.1. The EU and Switzerland: A legal framework of bilateral agreements 41
6.2. The EU and the EEA EFTA Countries: A dynamic system of EU law incorporation 42
6.3. The impact of the Lisbon Treaty 43

7. RECOMMENDATIONS 44

BIBLIOGRAPHY 46

Annexes 49
Annex I. List of Interviewees 49
Annex II: Selected publications by Prof. Dr. Christa Tobler 50
Annex III. Overview of EU - Swiss bilateral agreements 52
Annex IV. Comparison between EU law, EEA law and bilateral law 53
Annex V: The Internal Market charts 54





Ralf Grahn







P.S. Cross-border communication is a necessity in the European Union and beyond, with scrutiny by active citizens. At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

European Union Law in English and its sister blog in Bulgarian are written by the lawyer Vihar Georgiev, who serves his readers with quick updates on new legal acts, decisions and other developments in EU law.

European Union Law is listed among 522 (at the latest count) great Euroblogs on growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

EU: Free movement Switzerland (Bulgaria & Romania)

The Swiss Confederation is the one EFTA country, which is not a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) ─ as are Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway ─ so closer relations with the European Union and its member states have been built gradually on the basis of bilateral (and plurilateral) agreements.

The Wikipedia overview article Switzerland and the European Union (latest update 19 May 2009) describes the Swiss Confederation as a virtual member of the EEA or even the EU. (Despite the so called Guillotine Clause, given the importance of referendums in the Swiss constitutional system, the “even the EU” could be seen as an exaggeration.)




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Accession and free movement

From the point of view of the European Union, the extension of free movement to Switzerland with regard to the latest EU entrants Bulgaria and Romania is now confirmed by the official publication of the relevant documents.


Council Decision

The first document is the formal Council Decision 2009/392/EC of 27 November 2008 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Community and its Member States, of a Protocol to the Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Swiss Confederation, of the other, on the free movement of persons regarding the participation, as contracting parties of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania pursuant to their accession to the European Union, published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) 20.5.2009 L 124/51.




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Protocol

The second document is the Protocol to the Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Swiss Confederation, of the other, on the free movement of persons, regarding the participation, as contracting parties of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania pursuant to their accession to the European Union, published OJEU 20.5.2009 L 124/53.



The Protocol, to be ratified, contains the substantial provisions, including the transitional clauses (limitations).



Ralf Grahn