European Commission gives greenlight to fresh Swiss-EU negotiations
The European Commission has adopted a draft mandate signalling its readiness to open negotiations with Switzerland on future cooperation and a series of agreements. This now passes to the European Council. Switzerland, for its part, has already unveiled its draft mandate for negotiations with the European Union.
The document, which is not public, will be sent to European Union member states which still have to approve it.
+ Switzerland sets out priorities for fresh EU negotiations
The mandate proposal follows 18 months of exploratory talks between officials from Brussels and Bern, the European Commission said in a press release on Wednesday.
+ EU ambassador to Switzerland confident about future agreement
The proposed negotiating mandate contains institutional elements that would “enable Swiss participation in the internal market”, a “way forward” for the free movement of people and posting of workers, regular payments to the EU’s Cohesion Fund aimed at reducing economic and social disparities in Europe, and Swiss participation in EU programmes such as Horizon Europe.
+ Switzerland’s government tries to head off criticism of EU talks
The text also “provides a way forward for transitional arrangements that would enable Swiss entities to apply for grants under some Union research programmes before the negotiations are concluded”.
“We end 2023 with encouraging momentum for our bilateral relationship. I look forward to the next steps in 2024,” tweeted European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič on Wednesday.
The negotiations between the EU and Switzerland will start once both sides have their negotiating mandates approved according to their respective procedures. The Swiss government has unveiled its draft mandate for renewed negotiations with the EU, which will be finalised after consultation with parliament and the cantons.
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