Thread by @brussels_report

"Why did EU-Swiss negotiations on a Framework Agreement fail?"

New article, by Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. @C_Baudenbacher, President of the EFTA Court between 2003 and 2017, an independent consultant and arbitrator
brusselsreport.eu/2021/05/27/why…
#InstA #EUSwiss #Switzerland @JHahnEU #efta

"After much agony, the seven-year long negotiations between the EU and Switzerland on the conclusion of a framework agreement have ended without result. In line with Brussels’ spin, public opinion tends to put the blame on the Swiss. But the matter is not that simple."

"In 1992, a narrow majority of the Swiss people and a clear majority of the cantons said no to Switzerland’s accession to the EEA Agreement. After that, the EU concluded two packages of bilateral agreements with Switzerland"

"When it became increasingly clear that Switzerland would not become an EU member state, the EU demanded a change to dynamic adoption of the law and the establishment of an institutional framework for the bilateral agreements, from 2008 onwards."

"As the EU Commission was aware of Switzerland’s thin-skinnedness in the matter of „foreign judges”, it made a generous offer: Switzerland should negotiate with the three EEA/EFTA States on the right to „dock” with the institutions of the EFTA pillar, ESA and the EFTA Court."

"In 2013, the Swiss Foreign Ministry FDFA, led by Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, rejected this proposal and went on to discuss a different model with the EU instead, whereby the EU Commission would have the right to bring Switzerland unilaterally before the ECJ."

"When it became clear that this would lack a majority in Switzerland, the European Commission put on the table the „Ukraine model”, which provides in the event of a conflict an „arbitration panel”, which would have had to ask the ECJ for a binding ruling when EU law was at stake"

"In July 2018, the UK Government under Theresa May also swallowed this Ukraine model. The fact that Boris Johnson was able to avoid the Ukraine model in his 2020 TCA, despite pressure from the Commission, caused some irritation even among supporters of the Framework Agreement."

"In the course of 2018, it became clear that there were differences on three side issues:: On wage protection in the case of working across the border, on whether the EU Citizenship Directive is part of the free movement of persons, and on the ban on state aid."

"The Swiss-Foreign Ministry FDFA’s attempt to bundle the country into the EU through the back door has failed. But also the EU Commission could not resist the temptation to subject recalcitrant Switzerland to de facto supervision by itself and the jurisdiction of the ECJ."

"In my opinion, Switzerland should now go back to discuss the model to dock with the EFTA Court. If not possible, it would probably only be left with a model similar to UK, without dynamic adoption of law: leaving Single Market, supranational surveillance and judicial control"