France says bilateral accords will be ratified by end of year

Hubert Védrine (left) assured Moritz Leuenberger his country would sign the bilateral accords this year Keystone

The French foreign minister, Hubert Védrine, says parliament will ratify a series of bilateral accords agreed between Switzerland and the European Union by the end of this year. He was speaking on a visit to Bern where he met the Swiss president, Moritz Leuenberger.

Védrine, who also held talks with the Swiss foreign minister, Joseph Deiss, said that prospects for the ratification of a key agreement governing the free movement of people was “looking good”.

France is one of six EU member countries, which has yet to ratify the agreement on the free movement of people.

That accord is the only one which needs approval by all the national parliaments in the EU. However, it must be ratified before the package of seven accords – agreed between Switzerland and Brussels in 1999 – can be implemented.

Védrine said the French government would debate the dossier in “mid-June or later” and that parliament would decide on ratification during its session in the autumn.

For his part, Deiss said that Switzerland was ready to embark on negotiations with Brussels for a second set of 10 bilateral treaties. Védrine gave assurances that Paris would support the Swiss initiative.

The next set of treaties includes a proposal for Switzerland to join the EU’s Schengen and Dublin agreements.

The Schengen agreement, which has been signed by a majority of EU member states, abolished border controls between its members. The Dublin agreement focused on a common visa policy, which will be needed once border controls have been abolished.

A Swiss cabinet spokesman said on Thursday that seven of the proposed new agreements were ready to be put on the table, although they still have to be presented to the parliament’s foreign affairs committees.

He added that three other accords – governing tax evasion and security issues – had been put on the backburner because they needed more preparation.

During his stay in Switzerland, the French foreign minister said that he was in favour of “doing everything possible to reinforce cooperation between Switzerland and the EU.” Védrine said that there were few states as “euro-compatible” as Switzerland.

With this in mind, Védrine said that there was no question of putting pressure on Switzerland. He said that France was willing to accept “Swiss requirements” – namely banking secrecy – if Bern signed up to European efforts to fight financial crime.

Deiss confirmed Swiss efforts to fight money laundering, but emphasised that the country was not ready to give up its cherished banking secrecy.

swissinfo with agencies