Brussels – After more than a decade of rocky negotiations, broken promises, and one dramatic walkout, the European Union and Switzerland have finally done something remarkable: they signed on the dotted line, according to ORF News. On Monday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Swiss President Guy Parmelin stood together in Brussels and initialled 18 texts covering, among other things, the free movement of persons, trade, and transport between the two partners.
The accords are designed to enable closer cooperation in the electricity market as well as in the areas of food safety and healthcare, and to guarantee Swiss companies unhindered access to the EU Single Market in clearly defined areas. In a single sweep, these 18 agreements are set to replace more than 120 older, patchwork bilateral deals a bureaucratic jungle that had grown tangled and outdated over decades.
The deal is a two way street. Switzerland undertakes to adopt EU law and make payments to support less developed EU regions from 2030, these are to amount to CHF 350 million per year, up from around CHF 130 million currently. In return, Swiss students gain something long overdue: Switzerland will charge EU students the same tuition fees as local students at most of its public universities.
Von der Leyen captured the mood of the moment plainly: “The EU and Switzerland may be geographical neighbours but we are partners by conviction.”
Yet the real drama lies ahead. The Swiss government will have to convince parliament and, above all, the people, who will have the final say in a referendum expected in 2027.The Swiss People’s Party, the country’s strongest political force and a fierce critic of the deal has long dismissed it as a surrender of sovereignty. Opponents see it as a “treaty of subjugation to the EU.” There is also a looming complication: Swiss voters are set to vote in June on an initiative aimed at limiting immigration, which could complicate implementation of the agreements.
Should the referendum result in rejection, existing bilateral agreements would remain valid but would lose significance and effectiveness, as they would no longer be updated, leading to legal and planning uncertainties, especially for Swiss companies that export to the EU.
The ink is dry. Whether the Swiss people add their signature is another story entirely.
