Switzerland and the European Union

Switzerland took part in negotiating the European Economic Area agreement with the European Union. It signed the agreement on 2 May 1992, and submitted an application for accession to the EU on 20 May 1992. However, a Swiss referendum held on 6 December 1992 rejected EEA membership. As a consequence, the Swiss government decided to suspend negotiations for EU accession until further notice. Its application remains open.

In 1994, Switzerland and the EU started negotiations about a special relationship outside the EEA or full membership framework. Switzerland wanted to safeguard the economic integration with the EU that the EEA treaty would have permitted, while purging the relationship of the points of contention that had led to the people rejecting the referendum. Swiss politicians stressed the "bilateral" nature of these negotiations, where negotiations were conducted between two equal partners and not between 16 or 28, as is the case for EU treaty negotiations.

These negotiations resulted in a total of ten treaties, negotiated in two phases, the sum of which makes a large share of EU law applicable to Switzerland. The treaties are:

First treaties

# Free movement of people
# Air traffic
# Road traffic
# Agriculture
# Technical trade barriers
# Public procurement
# Science

Second treaties

# Security and asylum/Schengen membership
# Cooperation in fraud pursuits
# Final stipulations in open questions about agriculture, environment, media, education, care of the elderly, statistics and services.

The "bilateral approach", as it is called in Switzerland, was consistently supported by the people in various referenda. It allows the Swiss to keep a sense of sovereignty, due to arrangements when changes in EU law will only apply after a joint "bilateral commission" decides so in consensus.

The commission can never discuss or change contents, i.e. unlike full EU members, Switzerland has no influence over the contents of EU law that will apply. And while the bilateral approach officially safeguards the right to refuse application of new EU law to Switzerland, in practice this right is severely restricted by the so-called "Guillotine Clause", giving both parties a right to cancellation of the entire body of treaties when one new treaty or stipulation cannot be made applicable in Switzerland.

From the perspective of the EU, the treaties largely contain the same content as the EEA treaties, making Switzerland a virtual member of the EEA or even the EU. Most EU law applies universally throughout the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, providing most of the benefits of the free movement of people, goods, services and capital that full member states enjoy. Switzerland pays into the EU budget and extended the "bilateral treaties" to the new EU member states, just like full members did, yet people had to decide upon this in a referendum.

The bilateral approach has superseded Swiss enthusiasm for full membership. The popular initiative "Yes to Europe!", calling for the opening of immediate negotiations for EU membership, was rejected in a 4 March 2001 referendum. [cite news |title=Swiss say 'no' to EU |publisher=BBC News |date=2001-03-04 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1201133.stm |accessdate=2008-05-05]

On 5 June 2005, Swiss voters agreed, by a 55% majority, to join the Schengen treaty, a result that was regarded by EU commentators as a sign of support by Switzerland, a country that is traditionally perceived as isolationist. The agreement should come into effect in November 2008.

With the ratification of the "second" round of "bilateral treaties", the Swiss Federal Council has downgraded their characterisation of a full EU membership of Switzerland from a "strategic goal" to an "option" in 2006.

Use of the euro in Switzerland

The currency of Switzerland is the Swiss franc. Switzerland (with Liechtenstein) is in the unique position of being surrounded by countries which use the euro, as a result de facto the Euro is accepted and used in many places, especially near borders and in tourist regions. Swiss Railways accept Euros, both at ticket counters and in automatic ticket machines [cite web |url=http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/en/reisemarkt/services/bahnhof/billettautomat.htm#zahlung|title=SBB ticket machines accept Euros |accessdate=2008-05-14|publisher=SBB] . Many shops and smaller businesses that accept Euros take notes only, and give change in Swiss Francs. Some bank cash machines issue Euros as well as Swiss francs.

ee also

*Enlargement of the European Union
*Foreign relations of Switzerland

References