After the summer break between Brussels and Bern – EU Parliament wants to stay its course

by Dr iur. Marianne Wüthrich

Once again Brussels issues a request rather sounding like a command to Switzerland. On 4 October, the EU Parliament waved through the “Switzerland Report” by the Austrian Lukas Mandl, who represents the Foreign Affairs Committee¹, by 538 votes to 42 with 43 abstentions. The MEPs criticised the Federal Council’s termination of negotiations on the institutional framework agreement (InstA) in June 2021 without taking note of its reason for doing this. Instead, the current “Switzerland Report” lists the whole range of demands on Switzerland that were already in the draft InstA, and the EU Parliament also puts forward an absurd “time window” for an agreement to be reached by the EU elections in mid-2024. Yet it would not be possible to square the circle in even a longer time frame.

What is it that Switzerland wants?

“At the heart of Europe and yet not part of it. What is it that Switzerland wants?” This is the title of a commentary by two German members of the Bundestag in the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” of 25 September 2023. Yes, what is it that Switzerland wants? This is a question to which our domestic editorial offices, our politicians and diplomats, as well as the law and history professors at our universities should be able and willing to give the EU politicians a fine-tuned answer: “Switzerland”, that is us, the Swiss citizens; and we decide what we want at the ballot box. Swiss solutions that appeal to a vast majority of the people are rigged up on the basis of freedom, and they are tailor-made for the pillars of our state: Neutrality, sovereignty, federalism, direct democracy – and, corresponding to our cooperative bedrock, a good public service for all. If foreign powers seek to impose a model on Switzerland that contradicts our understanding of the state by 180 degrees, then we take the liberty of saying no. What is there so difficult to understand?

Institutional Framework Agreement –
new edition from Brussels

The “Switzerland Report” by Lukas Mandl simply ignores the indispensable pillars of the Swiss state system and once again repeats the well-known authoritarian demands from Brussels (one-to-one adoption of EU law, application of the ban on state aid and subordination to the ECJ).²
The EU Parliament spent a whole 35 minutes on the debate “Relations with Switzerland” in front of largely empty seats - but apparently everyone was back to vote. The contents in brief:

Threat of “the risk of erosion” applied to “numerous bilateral agreements”: Here, the main issue is the “Agreement on dismantling technical barriers to trade (Mutual Recognition Agreement – MRA)”, i.e. access for Swiss export companies to new technical regulations of the EU. What is absurd about this is the fact that on this point Switzerland has always been willing to adopt EU rules – but if it is to the advantage of our companies, it is not allowed...
Free movement of persons: The Swiss trade unions´ concern about wage protection worthy of the name is dismissed with the nebulous explanation that “the application of temporary, fixed-term or security measures, based on EU law”, might be considered “for a certain period of time”. Note the wording “based on EU law” – i.e. precisely not on the basis of the carefully coordinated parity controls of the Swiss workers’ and employers’ associations. (It does not suit the Brussels bureaucrats that in Switzerland, we do not simply reel off only a computer programme, but instead the social partners jointly check a large part of the employment contracts on site, especially in the catering and construction sectors). Moreover, the measures are to be considered only “for a certain period of time” – our trade unions and the left-wing parties could never, ever agree to such a thing this shaky. Incidentally, the Union Citizenship Directive is not mentioned in the media, although the associated easier access to the attractive Swiss social insurances would lead to a further increase in immigration and is therefore unacceptable for Switzerland. The bottom line: the Swiss sovereign, the people, must finally be able to control immigration themselves again.
Electricity agreement: The lack of an electricity agreement “poses risks for the European electricity grid”, the “Tages-Anzeiger” quotes. In fact, the Swiss Alpine transit line is indispensable for the EU as a hub and centre of the European electricity grid. Switzerland is of course willing to cooperate even without an institutional agreement, but it also wants its share of the electricity that flows through the Alps. To ensure that Swiss electricity ends up in “the right hands”, the EU has long been calling for the privatisation of hydroelectric power plants, and in doing so is banging its head against a brick wall with the owners, namely the cantons and municipalities, i.e., the voters.
“Horizon Europe” research programme: Switzerland’s participation is obviously very desirable, not only in our universities, but also in the EU Parliament: “This will strengthen Europe as a whole as a location for science and innovation”, says Lukas Mandl. Where is the problem? If Switzerland is such a sought-after research location, we can surely join in without a bureaucratic superstructure? Incidentally, there are also voices in favour of this in our neighbouring countries.
“Modernisation” of the free trade agreement and a “modern” investment protection agreement: Switzerland’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EC of 1972, a trade treaty concluded on an equal footing with more than a hundred subsequent agreements, would thus be institutionalised in one go with the Bilateral I agreements. This is because “modernisation” refers to the basic pillars demanded by the EU: adoption of existing and future EU law, application of the ban on state aid, and subordination to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice ECJ.
Cohesion payments: The “ceterum censeo” from Brussels is not long in coming: “Incidentally”, the “Switzerland Report” calls for regular and higher payments by Switzerland - into the EU’s bottomless barrel.

Critical comments are sought in vain
in the mainstream media

Our mainstream media “inform” us about this new edition of the outrageous framework agreement from Brussels without utterering one word of solidly-Swiss resistance. The “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” relinquishes its commentary to two German parliamentarians without even the most minimal knowledge (“What is it that Switzerland wants?”) or - even worse! – to some Swiss who want to get closer integration into the EU through the referendums as smoothly as possible. For example, there is Thomas Pfisterer, former federal judge, member of a cantonal government and of the Council of States (FDP). His proposal for a reform concept that “makes more democracy possible for the implementation of the EU treaties [...]” contains a whole host of ideas such as sending “experts” to the EU bodies, involving parliament and “the cantons” (i.e. the Conference of Cantonal Governments, CCG). Wait a minute: without any treaty with the EU even being ready to be signed, let alone accepted by the sovereign, the author has already arrived at its “implementation”! Especially when it comes to dealing with the electorate in the event of a referendum: Parliament would have to “make every effort to ensure that the electorate decides in full knowledge of the facts on the content of an EU act of law to be adopted[...].” If parliamentary commissions are in favour of an EU legal act, they should “work towards making it internally capable of obtaining a majority or consensus”.³
Such one-sided and democracy-defying “reporting” could have the opposite effect of what our newspaper editors are striving for: instead of us Swiss voting the way we are constantly being told to, perhaps more and more subscribers will cancel their daily newspaper and get their information elsewhere, for example from Current Concerns. •

¹ see “Summer break between Bern and Brussels – -but behind the scenes the strings continue to be pulled”. In: Current Concerns of 15 August 2023
² For the following, see the two daily newspaper articles of 4 October 2023, “Schweiz-Bericht vorgestellt. EU-Parlament fordert mehr Vertrauen zwischen Bern und Brüssel” (Switzerland report presented. EU Parliament calls for more trust between Bern and Brussels” by SDA/fel in the “Tages-Anzeiger” and Schöchli, Hansueli. “Bis spätestens Herbst 2024: Das EU- Parlament will eine rasche Einigung im Konflikt mit der Schweiz” (By autumn 2024 at the latest: the EU-Parliament wants a swift agreement in the conflict with Switzerland) in the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”.
³ Pfisterer, Thomas. “Die Schweiz und die EU – Demokratie gewährleisten” (Switzerland and the EU – guaranteeing democracy). Guest commentary. In: “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”, 27 September 2023

Volunteers counting votes at the confederal elections in 2019.
(Picture keystone)

The trust factor: Importance for democratic Switzerland

mw. At this point, I have to correct myself – fortunately! Because here and there, there are true treasures to be found in the mainstream media. For example, there is a report by Benjamin von Wyl about the significance of the trust factor for democratic Switzerland on swissinfo.ch, the news and information platform of Swiss TV channel SRF, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen.¹
“Solid land, solid money, solid life designs: compared to other countries, many things are going good in Switzerland. One important factor to that fact is the high amount of trust towards institutions. On a train journey to or from Bern, chances are one might encounter a member of the Swiss government. Almost always, they travel without special protection.” According to von Wyl, trust towards the government in Switzerland is higher than in any other OECD country, Switzerland is one of the most stable countries in the world both politically and economically, also due to the fact that representatives of all major parties from left to right wing are leading the country together.
In Switzerland, the author continues, the government, parliament and the justice department are controlling each other, just like in other democracies. But something really significant is added on top of that: “The Swiss Federal Councils (as well as the Parliament) have to face public voting on a regular basis. And the majority of voters just happen to say No, because in the Swiss self-understanding, they themselves are the sovereign.” Thus, the trust towards the state is based upon the fact that the citizens can actually decide how they want to shape their community, canton and the confederation.

Swiss militia system: “The possibility
of participation creates trust”

Another reason for the amount of trust is the militia system. Benjamin von Wyl states: “The Swiss militia system hands responsibility over to the population. He who wants to make a difference can join a club, take part in a demonstration – or work as a vote counter at the numerous referenda. The possibility of participation creates trust.”
How the votes are being counted in Switzerland actually creates a high and unique amount of security against abuse. The vote or election sheets of each community and each urban district are emptied upon the table by a group of community employees and citizens who either volunteered or were called up and are counted together. Each person eligible to vote knows that due to this procedure, even in times of digitalisation, a false result is highly unlikely which creates trust eventually.

Trust towards
the police and the Swiss franc

The Swiss not only have trust towards the government. Benjamin von Wyl also addresses the great amount of trust towards the economy and the courts and continues: “But it is the police who receives the highest amount of trust: In the annual study by the ETH ʻSafetyʼ, the police takes first place in the trust ranking on a regular basis.” This happens in spite of the criticism towards the police, for example regarding operations at demonstrations.
  Finally, von Wyl states a vital reason for the low-price increase and low inflation rate compared to other countries: “As to why prices in Switzerland increased less than in neighbouring countries last year, one reason surely is the Swiss franc, which happens to be quite stable towards inflation.”
  The author concludes with the following words: “Switzerland is facing the very same challenge like every other democracy: How can the population develop and maintain a societal coherence? The starting grounds for that are not that bad.”
  These good starting grounds however will not persist by themselves. To defend our unique design actively and at all costs lies in the responsibility of each and every Swiss citizen.

¹ von Wyl, Benjamin. “The trust factor: What is its importance for Switzerland” from 3 June 2023; https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/warum-die-menschen-in-der-schweiz-dem-staat-vertrauen/48534372