Institutional agreement: Brussels gives Switzerland nine days to sign – Switzerland

The European Union (EU) is seeking to put Switzerland back to the wall. It wants to reach an institutional agreement with Bern as soon as possible. It thus sets a new deadline for the Federal Council. According to a confidential note we read, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced this to her Swiss counterpart, Simonetta Sommaruga, when they met at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January.

What did the German say? First, responding to a request from Simonetta Sommaruga, she promised that the European Commission would not interfere in Swiss affairs before the vote on May 17. This date is of great importance in the eyes of the Swiss government. On that day, the population will vote on a popular initiative of the UDC which wants to put an end to the free movement of people, threatening to destroy all of the Bilateral Agreements I.

But then the European Commission wants it to go fast. Ursula von der Leyen called on the federal councilors to show clear political commitment and concrete signs of their readiness to advance the institutional agreement between the May 17 and May 26 vote. She therefore gives them nine days to transmit to Parliament a text which it has taken five years to negotiate and which has been vegetating for a year.

This new deadline is not set at random. May 26 is the deadline to update a bilateral agreement that allows Swiss companies to export their products to the 27 member states without having to approve them in each of them. The update concerns the medical branch. Without political agreement, hip prostheses, heart valves and other medical devices produced in Switzerland could face serious difficulties in accessing the European market.

By crying wolf

In Switzerland, this ultimatum goes rather badly. National Councilor Pierre-Yves Maillard (PS / VD), President of the Swiss Trade Union Union, reacts: “We must go in order and first settle the question of principle: do we want to pursue the Bilaterals or not? This is the substantive debate that is to take place between now and the May 17 vote on the UDC limitation initiative. If the people choose to maintain free movement and measures to protect wages, then the nature of our future relationship with the EU will have to be defined. It will take time and cannot be done in nine days! ”

National Councilor Roland Rino Büchel (UDC / SG) compares the Brussels ultimatum to the famous story of the person who cries wolf so often that we no longer believe: “They have already put up so many delays, put so much pressure . In the end, it has no effect. But it shows a certain arrogance in the attitude of the EU, which continues even with Ursula von der Leyen. “

“It’s up to us to do the work”

In the confidential note, the European administration considers the nine-day deadline “tight but feasible”. She notes: “It is above all a question of political will.” More than six months ago, the Federal Council asked for clarification on three points of the framework agreement: protection of wages, state aid. State and the Citizenship Directive. He also asked the social partners and the Cantons to work on it. Under these conditions, national councilor Christa Markwalder (PLR / BE) also believes that it is up to Switzerland to do its job: “The EU does not impose an ultimatum in my opinion. We have known the date of May 26 for a long time. It’s up to us to prepare for it now. We have to move forward on our side and clarify our position. ”

Pierre-Yves Maillard retorts: “We can talk to each other, but the work cannot be done in parallel! If the Cantons or the social partners start to exchange texts and proposals, this would inevitably become a public debate, which would parasitize the May 17 campaign. We must accept this sequencing and not be put under pressure. ”The president of the union umbrella also regrets the fact that the last compromises negotiated by the social partners – on pension reform or assistance to the unemployed elderly – be challenged: “Before entering into work for a social compromise on the EU, we will already observe what becomes of those whom we have negotiated in Parliament. Social partnership is playing a lot of its credibility in the coming months, ”he warns.

Threat assessment

By targeting medical technology, the EU wants to support where it hurts. The branch represents 1,400 companies in Switzerland, nearly 59,000 jobs and a turnover of 16 billion per year. Shouldn’t we fear big damage if the agreement on mutual recognition of standards cannot be updated? “Honestly, I have no definitive answer to this question. There are very contradictory opinions, answers Roland Büchel (UDC / SG). Maybe it would hurt a lot, but that’s the weird thing about all these threats. When the EU denied us market equivalence, we took countermeasures and it ultimately benefited us. “

Christa Markwalder is convinced that a barrier to access to the European market for MedTechs would be painful: “It would have a strong impact, for sure. The industry needs to be signaled today that politics are concerned. May 17 will be too late. ”

Created: 05.02.2020, 4:44 p.m.

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