Switzerland announces new EU talks strategy

Burkhalter outlines the new plan Keystone

Switzerland will appoint a chief negotiator to coordinate a range of delicate discussions with the European Union, including the thorny issue of free movement of labour, Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter said on Wednesday.

Swiss-EU relations soured in February last year as Swiss voters adopted an initiative to curb the flow of foreign workers coming into the country. The EU responded by freezing Switzerland out of a range of negotiations, from research grants to electricity network integration.

At present, a number of Swiss ministries are conducting talks with EU counterparts on an array of issues. Burkhalter said it was time to assign the EU negotiating portfolio to one person who could have a cross-ministerial overview of all the issues and put together the pieces of the “puzzle”.

This would also include Switzerland’s position on migrant workers from the latest EU member, Croatia, and future contributions to the cohesion fund.

“The idea is that when you discuss several issues at the same time, it can open more solutions that were perhaps otherwise impossible,” he told journalists on Wednesday.

In addition, Burkhalter wants to open up new discussions with European neighbours, including France, Germany and Italy, to see if bilateral solutions can be found on the fringes of central negotiations with the EU.

“Just like us, they have an obvious interest in finding solutions,” said Burkhalter.

Burkhalter would give no clues as to the current state of EU negotiations, but stressed that the new strategy did not mean Switzerland was more ready to grant concessions.

Simonetta Sommaruga, Swiss President this year, is due to meet with the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker this autumn.