Swiss voters support bilateral agreements with EU and are willing to compromise

A majority of Swiss are in favour of negotiations with the EU. Keystone

The Swiss electorate remains convinced by the bilateral agreements with the European Union. A majority is prepared to compromise in the current negotiations, according to a survey published on Tuesday on behalf of the pharmaceutical association Interpharma.

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The survey was conducted by the opinion research institute gfs.bern for the 11th time. According to the results, 65% of the 2,000 voters surveyed in July saw mainly advantages in the bilateral agreements.

Advantages and disadvantages were identified by 14%, a decrease of nine percentage points compared to the previous year. As in the previous year, a majority were in favour of negotiations with the EU; 86% highlighted the advantages for the economy, 83% for research, 70% for working life and 69% for studying in Europe.

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Voters recognised the need for bilateral agreements for prosperity and innovation in Switzerland, wrote Interpharma, the association of the research-based pharmaceutical industry. It said 84% cited access to the export market, 82% to education and research programmes and 79% to skilled workers.

Almost four out of five respondents thought the resumption of negotiations with the EU was the right thing to do. It was clear to respondents that this would require concessions; 85% were prepared to compromise on wage protection in order to conclude negotiations, 30 percentage points more than in the previous year.

In addition, 47% were willing to compromise on the adoption of the Citizens’ Rights Directive, an increase of 16 percentage points. For the first time, the current survey showed a majority of 55% in favour of continuing the bilateral agreements, even if this involves the adoption of EU law.

The opinion research institute gfs.bern conducted the survey, which is considered representative, from July 1 to 29 among voters throughout the country; 804 interviews were conducted in computer-assisted telephone interviews and 1,196 online.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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