Mitteilungen

"The decision of the Swiss Government is quite detrimental. More than seven years of joint negotiating and some recent patience are now in vain. All mediating efforts have proven unsuccessful as some in Switzerland have held on to the view that Brexit would strengthen their negotiating position. It is time that the responsible political actors in Bern recognize that the European project has brought about peace and prosperity also for Switzerland. As long as the domestic narrative is nurtured that the EU works against the Swiss interests, it will be difficult to collaborate closely. The Swiss negotiating team will now have to pick up the pieces.

The open issues between Switzerland and the EU remain. No problem is solved through the outright rejection of the draft Institutional Framework Agreement. The existing bilateral agreements are supposed to secure access to the EU Single Market in various sectors. This will now become more and more difficult as EU legislation continues to develop. There will be a lack of legal certainty due to the absence of a robust and reliable dispute settlement mechanism foreseen in the Institutional Framework Agreement. In the medium term, this may well lead to restrictions of EU market access for Swiss companies.

Still, Switzerland will always remain at the heart of Europe. And the door for negotiations is always open - in the interest of the citizens on the ground. They commute from France to Geneva to do indispensable work in hospitals there, and there are Swiss citizens who profit from cross-border shopping in Germany. We will continue to support pragmatic solutions for all citizens in the region most of whom do not approve of the would-be-patriotic bickering in Bern."

The implications of Brexit on the EEA and on the unique relation the EU has built with the EFTA countries have dominated the discussions of the DEEA inter-parliamentary meetings in 2020. In this context, on 21 December 2020, the Members of the DEEA Bureau have sent a letter to the Chair of the UKCG, Mr McAllister, calling on the EP to reassure EFTA States that the special relationship they enjoy with the EU will be preserved regardless of the future EU-UK relationship and that the UK, as a third country, will not be granted better rights or benefits that the Members States of the EU, the EEA and the EFTA. This request is fully in line with the European Parliament's recommendation of 18 June 2020 on the negotiations for a new partnership with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.