The European Commission signalled in a draft mandate that it is ready to hold talks with Switzerland over future cooperation on a series of issues. The document, not made public, will now to be sent to each EU member state for approval.
The mandate proposal announced on December 20 comes after 18 months of exploratory discussions between officials in Brussels and Bern.
Among the issues touched by the proposed negotiating mandate are the possibility of allowing Switzerland to participate in the EU market as well as taking part in the European Union’s programmes such as Horizon Europe, the European Commission said in a press release earlier this week.
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”.
European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič welcomed this step forward towards closer relations between Bern and the EU27.
He wrote on social media platform X, formerly knwon as Twitter: “We end 2023 with encouraging momentum for our bilateral relationship. I look forward to the next steps in 2024.”
The negotiations will begin once both Bern and Brussels will have their draft mandates approved. Unlike the EU, the Swiss Government unveiled its document focused on renewed talks with Brussels, which now needs to be finalised following consultations with Parliament and the cantons.
Much like post-Brexit Britain, Switzerland isn’t a member of the European Union. However, given it is located in the heart of the continent and it regularly sees people from nearby nations crossing its borders for work and tourism, Bern joined the Schengen area in December 2008.
The Commission’s statement came hours before Switzerland struck a deal with post-Brexit Britain, the Berne Financial Services Agreement.
During a historic meeting on December 21, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt and his Swiss counterpart head of the Federal Department of Finance Karin Keller-Sutter signed this deal on the mutual recognition of financial services aiming to enhance the cross-border market access of financial services.
This deal covers for the first time the recognition of equivalence in the areas of banking, securities services, insurance, asset management and financial market infrastructures for professional clients, a press release issued by the Swiss Federal Department of Finance read.
This agreement, which now needs to be approved by the parliaments in London and Bern, will give Britain’s financial service firms unprecedented access to the Swiss economy, worth over $800bn (£629bn) in 2022, the Treasury said.
In a video shared by the Treasury on X, Mr Hunt described the deal as “totally groundbreaking”.
Ms Keller-Sutter expressed her satisfaction with the outcome of the talks with Britain by saying: “This agreement helps to retain and boost the international competitiveness of the Swiss financial centre in the long term.”
