–
Katja Leikert is deputy parliamentary group leader of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group for Europe and human rights in the German Bundestag.
Photo : Tobias Koch (www.tobiaskoch.net)
–
This is exactly why breaking off negotiations is difficult for me to understand. There is a good reason why Switzerland has 120 bilateral agreements with the EU. The overwhelming importance of trade between the EU and Switzerland for both sides need not be emphasized again here.
Sure, Switzerland gave weighty reasons for not continuing talks on a framework agreement with the EU: migration and wage policy, state aid, protection of the Swiss social security system. That sounds sensible. Why should Switzerland enter into a framework agreement that would mean disadvantages for the social and political structure of the Confederation in key areas?
But global megatrends show how much Switzerland is dependent on European cooperation: The conduct of Russia, the rise of China, the energy transition, stopping climate change, strengthening the international value system – these are the issues between the EU and the Switzerland should not fit a sheet. The technocratic question of the legitimacy of state aid – important as it is – must not stand in the way.
The EU has repeated the mistakes made in the Brexit negotiations with David Cameron.
Foreign Minister Cassis is right when he says that an agreement would have required a “great compromise”. Some hardliners in the Swiss administration were not ready, just as the EU Commission was not ready to soften its positions. The Federal Council should have taken the risk of promoting the agreement. The reactions from the Swiss border regions show that people would have been ready to fight for this agreement. Not every bark of the SVP may be honored.
However, it wasn’t just Switzerland that made mistakes. In addition to the senseless threat of no longer negotiating or concluding bilateral agreements, the EU must ask itself why, after the British, a natural ally is again moving away from the European project.
I understand the EU’s wish to be coherent in negotiations with third countries. But the EU has repeated mistakes from the Brexit negotiations with David Cameron. The EU strengthened the position of the SVP as it nurtured the Brexit-friendly sections of the Tories by avoiding the arguments of the negotiating partners. But those arguments were there, and they were more than lies and right-wing populism. That does not mean that the Swiss decision was correct, but the EU must enable negotiations on an equal footing in order not to damage relations with such essential third countries as Switzerland.
Just because the agreement failed doesn’t mean you have to upset the whole game board.
The EU is right when it says that bilateral agreements are no longer keeping pace with the development of trade. The effects of the failure of the talks are immediately noticeable, an agreement on the recognition of Swiss medical devices has already expired. More will follow in the next few years.
But the EU’s argument that it does not want to conclude any further agreements follows a strange logic. Just because the agreement failed doesn’t mean you have to upset the whole game board. Switzerland’s positive sign of support for newer EU members should be received constructively. A framework agreement would have been the best possible solution for both sides – now the task is to find a second-best solution, because the common challenges are great.
Posted today at 6:00 am
Found a bug? Report it now.
–
Related
Brussels has shown a strange logic in the negotiations on the framework agreement. The EU has thus strengthened the position of the SVP.
opinionKatja Leikert
—
Two who don’t understand each other: Federal President Guy Parmelin, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels.
Photo: François Walschaerts (Keystone)
Switzerland is of course a wealthy country, a model for success – and has been for a long time. But digitization, the rapid changes and ruptures in the economy are also leaving their mark on Switzerland. Swiss champions have become rarer; Innovation and renewal need exchange and as few obstacles as possible.