The Federal Council – represented by Ignazio Cassis, Guy Parmelin and Beat Jans – announced that the state government took note of the conclusion of negotiations with the EU: The Swiss delegation had achieved the goals set out in the negotiating mandate.
The departments are now tasked with preparing the formal conclusion of the negotiations – after which Parliament and the electorate will be able to comment on the treaty. In all likelihood four times: once for the further development of existing contracts and once for new contracts in the areas of electricity, food safety and health.
The aim of the negotiations was to stabilize and further develop the bilateral path with the EU. According to the state government, the bilateral path has made a significant contribution to Switzerland’s success model for 25 years. For this purpose, a total of 197 different negotiating sessions took place with the European Union delegation.
The negotiation results
The Federal Council declares that the goals defined in advance by Switzerland have been achieved and that the negotiation results correspond to Switzerland’s interests.
Die Cohesion contributions Switzerland would be increased from 130 to 350 million francs per year from 2030 as part of the bilateral path. These funds represented an important part of the contract.
In the area of Free movement of people What has been achieved is that immigration remains “focused on the needs of the economy and limiting the impact on social systems”. So you have the existing one Safeguard clause can specify – the Union Citizens Directive Again, Switzerland only has to take over parts of it and there are exceptions for the deportation of criminal foreigners.
Institutional issues would in turn be integrated directly into individual internal market agreements. The rules on state aid only apply in three areas: air transport, land transport and electricity. In this way, the characteristics of individual areas could be better taken into account, according to the Federal Council.
In the area of wage protection an agreement has been reached with the EU on a “three-tier protection model” and also in the areas Land transport, agriculture and electricity “Exceptions to protect Switzerland’s essential interests” were negotiated.
