Federal Council to open Swiss-EU relations negotiations in March
The Federal Council wants to negotiate with Brussels on Switzerland's future relations with the European Union. On Friday it adopted the definitive mandate for these negotiations, which will begin as soon as the European Commission has also adopted its mandate.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Español
es
Suiza adopta mandato definitivo para iniciar las negociaciones con la UE
According to the foreign ministry, this should occur before the end of March. On the Swiss side, chief negotiator Patric Franzen, deputy state secretary of the foreign ministry, is responsible for the overall management of the negotiations. The individual elements of the negotiating package are to be negotiated in parallel.
In the consultations on the negotiating mandate, a large majority of those consulted were in favour of the package approach to the negotiations, the foreign ministry said. The Federal Council has adopted most of the recommendations from the consultations and adapted its draft mandate from December.
More
More
Explainer: Can Switzerland rejoin Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ in 2024?
This content was published on
News that the European Commission is to open talks with Switzerland on Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ has been welcomed by university leaders.
However, the government has not incorporated requests for changes in the area of electricity. The proposed electricity agreement was criticised in various ways during the consultations. The Federal Council cites the exclusion of electricity production from the scope of the agreement and the absence of measures to liberalise the market.
In the electricity agreement, the Federal Council wants to give consumers the choice of remaining in regulated basic supply with regulated prices. It also wants to retain the most important state subsidies for electricity production, especially from renewable energies.
With regard to wage protection, the Federal Council wants to guarantee wages and working conditions. And in terms of regulation of costs, it is seeking a solution that guarantees legal equality while taking into account price levels in Switzerland.
Adapted from German by DeepL/kc/amva
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Pro-Palestine uni protests to be debated in Swiss parliament
This content was published on
The Swiss People’s Party says it will launch two postulates calling for clarifications about the recent student protests and occupations.
This content was published on
A 36-year-old man from Ticino lost his life on Saturday in Val Malvaglia, in the north of canton Ticino, during a wingsuit jump from a plane.
Swiss Evangelical Reformed Church numbers dropping in French-speaking Switzerland
This content was published on
As in German-speaking Switzerland, the number of members of the Reformed Church in French-speaking Switzerland is also declining.
Gotthard traffic queue hits 20km during holiday weekend
This content was published on
The traffic jam at the Gotthard north portal reached a length of 20 kilometres on the motorway between canton Nidwalden and canton Uri.
Swiss Interior Minister visits Cannes Film Festival
This content was published on
Swiss Interior Minister left the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday after three days of intensive dialogue, meetings and film screenings.
Swiss theatre director breaks with tradition at Vienna’s Rathausplatz
This content was published on
With the proclamation of the "Free Republic of Vienna", the start of the festival on Friday evening was unusually political.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Explainer: Can Switzerland rejoin Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ in 2024?
This content was published on
News that the European Commission is to open talks with Switzerland on Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ has been welcomed by university leaders.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.