SP makes demands – Cassis means it: the new EU poker starts now

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Things will get serious for Ignazio Cassis (62) on Friday: the Federal Council will probably adopt – and publish – the negotiating mandate with the European Union (EU). After the Federal Council canceled the framework agreement in May 2021, explorations were made with the EU for a second attempt.

The SP made demands the day before. Co-chair Cédric Wermuth (37) was disappointed with the “narrow, ambitious and lack of perspective” key parameters of the mandate known so far. “We would have liked to see a bolder approach.” The party therefore calls for clarifications and additions to the mandate, for example in the areas of wage protection, the railways or a possible electricity agreement.

Warning against “neoliberal cherry picking”

Wermuth warns the Federal Council against “neoliberal cherry picking”. European policy should not be used to attack wage protection. But you can accommodate the Federal Council by adopting the “principle of dynamization”. But we are still far from ‘social-democratic maximum demands’, Wermuth said.

However, the SP, for example, demands a package so that the accompanying measures can be maintained, even if the arbitral tribunal deems them to be disproportionate.

How much power will the EU Court have?

The foundations of the new relationship are already clear: instead of a framework around the existing agreements, the Federal Council has proposed to resolve the controversial issues in each agreement separately.

This concerns, among other things, how much power the European Court of Justice will have. But there are also questions about what happens if the EU changes the law and what applies to new treaties. Something like this should exist on the electricity market, among other things. It is intended to ensure that Switzerland receives electricity from neighboring countries in times of scarcity.

Before the decisive phase, the situation is difficult: although the SVP is fundamentally against the mandatory adoption of EU legislation and dispute settlement by the Court of Justice of the EU, the trade unions are concerned about wage protection. The latter have already put pressure on the Federal Council – just one day before the Federal Council announced its intention to develop a negotiating mandate.

The SVP and the left have the power to undermine the EU deal. Because the SVP is unlikely to be willing to compromise, the position of the SP and the unions will be decisive.

Source:Blick