Submitted by Political Commission 3: External Affairs and Global Governance

Adopted by the Federal Committee on 11 November 2023 in Madrid, Spain

 

JEF Europe,

• Applauding the current federalist multicultural and multilingual democratic system of Switzerland;
• Welcoming the signaled readiness of the Swiss government to restart negotiations with the EU;
• Recognising the present absence of popular support to join the EU but noting a clear desire to increase collaboration such as extension of the bilateral agreements and / or accession to EEA along with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein;
• Deploring the lack of democratic debates before the Swiss government broke off negotiations in May 2021, which created mistrust between the EU and its Swiss partner;
• Regretting the downgrading of Switzerland from an associated to a non-associated third country in Horizon Europe and the loss of potential cooperation that has ensued, as well as the fact that Switzerland can no longer participate in the Erasmus+ programme, thus negatively affecting the attractivity of the Swiss (and to a lesser extent European) research and education systems;
• Regretting the slow unravelling of bilateral agreements due to the lack of progress of their update which led, among other things, to the loss of the stock exchange equivalency, and non-renewal of the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) provisions on medical devices (aka MedTech), impacting Swiss companies and customers with rising prices and / or less choice of products and services, and may still lead to the same non-renewal in other sectors also covered by the MRA, such as mechanical, pharmaceutical, electrical, and construction products;
• Acknowledging the Swiss semi-direct democracy system which has worked well for Switzerland, and noting that, when Switzerland becomes an EU member,Swiss referenda would become an integral part of the EU decision-making process in all domains where Swiss parliamentary authorities are engaged,exclusively or jointly as part of EU decision-making, but not when competencies are exclusive to the EU, in line with the Swiss federalist logic between municipalities, cantons and the Confederation;
• Acknowledging criticism by the Council of Europe’ Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) regarding political funding for elections, referenda and initiatives in Switzerland, and taking note of Switzerland’s and individual Swiss cantons’ first steps to tackle them;
• Deploring the current lack of democratic representation and sovereign decision-making for Swiss citizens considering that Swiss lawmakers very often include EU law into Swiss law, without proper Swiss representation in the EU’s decision-making institutions, that can only fully happen when Switzerland joins the EU;
• Highlighting the importance of the continuation of cross-border cooperation between Switzerland and its neighbours at the local and regional level, including but not limited to key areas such as public transport, scientific research, education, healthcare, environmental conservation, and economic development;
• Recognizing the prevalence of cross-border workers in the Swiss labor force, constituting a significant proportion, who engage in commuting activities from neighboring countries, thereby rendering them notably susceptible to challenges associated with cross-border work-related impediments;
• Mindful of fears over maintaining high wage levels in Switzerland in the face of EU integration, but aware that the cases of Denmark, Luxembourg and others have shown that maintaining high wages is compatible with EU membership;
• Concerned that EU law may be applied differently in Switzerland and that there may be a lack of an efficient dispute resolution mechanism between Switzerland and the EU;
• Welcoming Switzerland’s participation in most EU sanctions packages, but also noting with concern that Switzerland is blocking the re-exportation towards Ukraine of much-needed Swiss-made weaponry bought by EU states years ago;
• Respecting Swiss military neutrality, but also reminding Switzerland that it benefits disproportionately from the EU’s security and defence mechanisms without contributing, and that there will be growing expectations from the EU and its member states for Switzerland to contribute to Europe’s future security and defence architecture and to level the playing field in security and defence spending;

 

JEF Europe therefore,

1. Encourages Switzerland to pursue the process of European integration;
2. Suggests Switzerland join Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway in the EEA in the short term as a possible first step toward EU membership;
3. Urges Switzerland to join the EU in order to fill the current democratic gap and enjoy the benefits of the EU membership;
4. Further calls on Switzerland and the EU, that in absence of a rapid accession of Switzerland into the EEA or the EU, they should conclude as soon as possible the ongoing negotiations of a global package settling essential institutional issues such as the dynamic incorporation of the evolving EU legislation in the areas of the internal market in which Switzerland participates and an efficient dispute-settlement mechanism;
5. Calls on the EU and Switzerland to sign an Energy agreement as part of a global package under negotiations as collaboration would be beneficial in the field of energy markets towards a carbon neutral continent;
6. Invites Switzerland to embrace a new definition of neutrality and align fully with the foreign policy of the EU in particular as regards to the sanctions and sanction enforcement against Russia in response to the full scale invasion of Ukraine;
7. Recommends special attention be given to potential issues arising from Switzerland’s high wage and price levels by replacing current “accompanying measures” by EU and / or Swiss legislative measures designed to protect local wages;
8. Commits itself to support referendum or citizen initiative in Switzerland aiming at closer integration of Switzerland with the EU;
9. Urges that Switzerland immediately becomes a participating country of the Erasmus+ programme, as increased youth exchange facilitates deepening the Switzerland – EU relationship;
10. Commits itself to support JEF Switzerland in its objectives to improve the relationship between Switzerland and the EU and to get Switzerland to become a full member of a federal European Union.