Switzerland to negotiate with Brussels over H2020

The Council of the European Union has made the conclusion of any further agreements giving Switzerland access to the internal market subject to the solution of longstanding institutional issues, notably regarding better surveillance and dispute-settlement mechanisms. Negotiations on an institutional framework were scheduled to start following adoption of the mandate.

Pending negotiations currently concern Swiss participation in Horizon 2020, the EU-Swiss electricity agreement and Erasmus+. Talks are also planned for participation in the Creative Europe (culture and audio-visual) programme.

While the EU single market law is clearly an evolving instrument, Switzerland considers that it has signed international agreements only as covered by the law existing at the time of signature. This led to a recurring question of how to deal with post-agreement developments of the acquis, including interpretations by the European Court of Justice.

The horizontal issues related to the dynamic adaptation of all agreements to the evolving acquis, the homogenous interpretation of the agreements, but equally the need for independent surveillance, judicial enforcement and dispute settlement need to be reflected in EU-Switzerland agreements.

A resolution of these horizontal issues is necessary before the EU is ready to conclude new agreements giving Switzerland access to further areas of the single market. On the basis of a common non-paper of January 2013, both sides have prepared their negotiating directives for a new institutional framework that should address these issues, covering current and future agreements. The Swiss mandate was adopted in December 2013, while the EU mandate is still under discussion in Council.