Swiss farmers’ union applauds progress on EU treaty package

Farmers' organisation sees improvement in EU treaty package Keystone-SDA

The Swiss Farmers' Union is in favour of the bilateral approach, but has not yet taken a definitive position on the new treaties with the European Union. In view of the dynamic adoption of legislation and the imprecise domestic implementation, it is calling for better involvement of the sector.

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The consequences of the food safety agreement are likely to depend not least on its domestic implementation, the Swiss Farmers’ Union (SBV) pointed out in a statement. For example, the rules of the new breeding methods would be left open, it wrote in its statement published on Wednesday.

The farmers’ association also referred to the “high regulatory pressure from the EU”, which could be restrictive for agriculture in the future. Switzerland should continue to be able to take measures with its own agricultural policy, it said.

Bilateral path ‘without alternative’

However, the union considers there to be “no alternative” to the bilateral approach for a stable relationship with the EU, according to the statement. In addition, the present package of agreements is an improvement on the previous framework agreement.

In particular, the association considers the stabilisation of the agricultural agreement to be positive – especially as it is not subject to dynamic legal adoption. It also emphasises the planned research and education cooperation as positive.

Nevertheless, the SBC does not want to take a final position until the parliamentary debate has been concluded. However, it is clear to the association that it is in favour of a referendum with a majority of the cantons “for constitutional and democratic reasons”.

Companies against

IG Bauern Unternehmen (farm industry group) had already taken a clearly negative stance. The interest group rejects the treaty package as it jeopardises Swiss agriculture. Among other things, the dynamic adoption of legislation, the restriction of Switzerland’s autonomy and additional “suffocating” bureaucracy and controls are criticised. The organisation also fears a loss of quality and higher costs.

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Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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