Negotiating mandate approved: European Commission gets the green light for negotiations with Switzerland

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The European Commission can negotiate with Bern on future relations between the EU and Switzerland. EU member states on Tuesday approved the European Commission’s mandate for negotiations with Switzerland.

An EU official told this to the Keystone-SDA news agency when asked. The agenda item was on the agenda of the Economic and Finance Council. He had to formally agree to the mandate. Previously, working groups and the permanent representations of the EU Member States dealt with the mandate of the European Commission.

Federal Council presented

Last week, the Federal Council got to work and presented its final negotiating mandate. Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (62) has a clear goal: a new package of agreements that consolidates the bilateral path that Switzerland and the EU have been following for 25 years.

It is the second attempt: the Federal Council broke off negotiations on the so-called ‘framework agreement’ in April 2021 – when it became clear that there would not be a majority in Switzerland for the negotiated contract. Now everything should get better: instead of a framework agreement, Cassis opts for a package approach: new institutional rules – the ‘rules of the game’ – should be inserted into the previous agreements.

Since both sides now have an order, negotiations will begin this month, as the State Department said last week. (SDA/rus)

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Source:Blick