(Bloomberg) — The Swiss government realizes that abandoning talks on a deal with the European Union almost three years ago was an error and is ready to convince a skeptical public about the benefits of closer relations, the bloc’s top diplomat in the country said.
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“The proof is that after slamming the door in May 2021, in February 2022, on the very day when the aggression in Ukraine took place, they decided to come back,” Ambassador Petros Mavromichalis told Bloomberg in an interview. “The government, the people we are negotiating with, are fully on board.”
After months of exploratory work, the EU and Switzerland are preparing to restart formal negotiations on a new agreement to update multiple treaties dating back decades. The previous effort failed when the Swiss unexpectedly walked away after years of wrangling.
Switzerland is surrounded by the EU on all sides and half of its exports go to the bloc. Bilateral goods trade amounts to about 300 billion francs ($348 billion) a year. But Switzerland has a history of fiercely protecting its sovereignty, and some politicians say deeper ties will give the EU more power over the country, increase immigration and erode high wages.
If a deal is brokered, the Swiss system of direct democracy means that it would most likely go to a national vote. And there’s no guarantee it would pass, given that left-wing unions and the country’s largest political party, the far-right SVP, are both threatening to campaign against a deal. While the economy has benefited from EU citizens being able to freely move to the country to work, immigration in particular is a hot-button issue.
Despite such hurdles, Mavromichalis, who took over as ambassador in 2020, remains confident.
“In the long run, a solution will need to be found and will be found because we are, and we will forever stay, neighbors and friends, in spite of the frictions,” he said. “The only question is when.”
Negotiations are supposed to kick off in March and finish this year, Mavromichalis said, albeit noting that in Switzerland “things tend to take a long time.”
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A Swiss-EU deal would update a web of more than 100 agreements on everything from food safety to machinery certification. The EU has said it won’t renew expiring agreements until an overarching settlement is found, basically threatening to gradually shut Switzerland off from Europe’s single market.
Geopolitical tensions and events such as the war in Ukraine are already pushing the traditionally neutral Swiss to pull back from an overly isolationist stance. The country joined the EU’s sanctions against Russia and is moving to label Hamas a terrorist organization, taking a further step away from its non-aligned status.
Given the stakes, the government has been trying to get ahead of domestic criticism, stressing that an EU deal will include “exceptions to safeguard Switzerland’s vital interests.” For example, to address immigration concerns, incoming employees will only be eligible to claim unemployment benefits after five years of work.
“The Swiss political forces will need to convince their voters, one way or another,” Mavromichalis said. “And that is of course their business and not one where we can interfere.”
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