The recent meeting between Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis and EU Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič in Bern was announced with great fanfare. The public is not told what the two discussed. All we hear from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) is that the negotiations are to be finalised by the end of the year (see box for further details). In order to improve the chances for the agreement, the Federal Council has been feverishly pursuing a paving policy. For example, it is said to have persuaded Brussels to consider a safeguard clause against excessive immigration. For its part, the EU is particularly keen on higher and regular cohesion billions from Switzerland.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Council of States (FAC-S) is trying to “save” the agreement by separating the electricity agreement from the overall package and negotiating it separately. It has submitted a motion to this effect to the Federal Council by 10 votes to 1 (press release dated 22 November 2024).
Because an electricity agreement has zero chance with the Swiss electorate. It is a typical example of how the Swiss legal culture is not compatible with the EU’s neo-liberal and centrally controlled thicket of regulations. The Swiss people do not want our hydropower to be sold off to the highest bidders in the EU, who are already waiting in the wings; they want to keep the public service in the hands of the cantons and municipalities. And what are our “people’s representatives” in the Council of States committee doing? They are standing on their heads to “save” the institutional agreement. Small question: are you concluding an agreement that is so unfavourable that you really have to be persuaded to sign it?
In an interview with Current Concerns, National Councillor Franz Grüter, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council (FAC-N), explains: An institutional agreement with the EU is diametrically opposed to the core of the Swiss model; only bilateral agreements on an equal footing are an option. A positive example is a brand-new agreement with Italy and Germany on mutual support in the event of gas shortages. The Council of States unanimously approved the agreement on 3 December and it will now go to the National Council.1
1 “Ständerat unterstützt Gasabkommen mit Deutschland und Italien” (The Council of States supports gas agreement with Germany and Italy). SDA report of 3 December 2024
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