Swiss politics shows that Euroskepticism is in the United Kingdom to stay

Imagine British political headlines in 30 years. Number 10 might declare victory on achieving carbon neutrality. https://www.eudebates.tv/ #eudebates #Swiss #EU #Simonetta #Sommaruga #VonderLeyen #Treaty Westminster might pass a universal minimum income to deal with mass unemployment due to automation. But almost certainly, the country won’t be debating whether to rejoin the European Union.

Instead, Labour and the Conservatives (or their future incarnations) will compete on who is the tougher negotiator with Brussels. Remainers will have become a relic of the past; the United Kingdom will be a country of Euroskeptics of different breeds.

EU spokesman says EU has been ‘waiting over a year’ for Switzerland to back accord. Researchers fear failure to settle arrangement could affect Swiss access to Horizon Europe. https://www.eudebates.tv/ #eudebates #Swiss

Switzerland and the EU remain in stalemate over a long-awaited partnership treaty, with the delay causing relations to sour.

“One party has been waiting around a year for additional information and that’s the European Commission. We’re fully prepared to examine all the details once the information has been provided to us,” European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said on Tuesday, after it was put to him that EU officials were dragging their heels on closing the new deal.

Leaders on both sides are trying to form a new “institutional framework agreement”, under discussion for years, but negotiations have yet to reach a conclusion. The drawn-out process exploded into a political row in 2019 that led to the Swiss Stock Exchange losing EU recognition.

As far as the EU is concerned, talks are finished, and all that is left for officials to do is “clarify” outstanding issues. What’s unclear is whether changes to the framework agreement can still be made, and if so, what these could be.

Last year, the main obstacle to a deal seemed to be removed when Switzerland held a referendum in which citizens voted against limiting freedom of movement between the country and the EU. Researchers had feared the referendum could wreck the country’s hopes of joining the forthcoming research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe, as an associate member.

Now, with a positive result in the referendum, researchers are calling for talks between Bern and Brussels to finally start up again, and for Switzerland to arrange full access to Horizon Europe, which is due to start in the coming months.

Brussels has made little secret of its desire to wrap up a new accord to pull together over 100 bilateral treaties with Switzerland. The European Parliament has described the current package of agreements with the country as "complex, sometimes incoherent and not easy to sustain".

But the new treaty also includes demands that the Swiss soften rules on wages, the highest in Europe, from cross-border competition by EU workers. Critics include Swiss workers who fear an erosion of these wage protections.
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NOV 2020
Swiss Leader Suggests How to Revive Stalled Treaty to EU's Von Der Leyen

Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga called European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday to outline Bern's proposal to unblock a stalled bilateral treaty, von der Leyen said in a tweet. https://www.eudebates.tv/ #eudebates #Swiss #EU #Simonetta #Sommaruga #VonderLeyen #Treaty

"I took note and await further details. We need to make progress towards signing the IFA" (Institutional Framework Agreement) treaty, she added without elaborating.

The pact would formalise ties between non-EU member Switzerland and the 27-nation bloc now governed by a patchwork of 120 bilateral accords.

It focuses on five areas - free movement of people, civil aviation, land transport, mutual recognition of industrial standards and processed farm goods. Switzerland would agree to take on EU single market rules in these areas.

The Swiss government said on Wednesday it was resuming talks over the treaty, which was negotiated over four years but has languished while Bern tries to forge domestic consensus on how to proceed.

The government has given no details on its stance, but said in the past it wants clarifications on state aid, EU citizens' access to Swiss welfare benefits and unilateral Swiss rules designed to protect high wages from competition by cross-border workers on temporary assignments.

Critics say it infringes so much on Swiss sovereignty that it would never win a referendum under the Swiss system of direct democracy.

A Commission spokesman told a news briefing that von der Leyen awaited more information from the Swiss side.

"It's only once we have those details that we will be able to start looking at what the next possible steps will be. I think what's quite clear, as the president's tweet said, we need to see swift progress and the signing of this framework agreement," he added.
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