Trust is the prerequisite to negotiation

Switzerland will now hold intensive talks on immigration with the European Union to clarify the interests of both parties, said Switzerland’s Federal President Didier Burkhalter at a press conference in Bern yesterday. Trust is key for both Switzerland and the EU in the current situation, and the Federal Council plans to invest in it in the coming weeks.

At the weekend, the Swiss electorate voted for Switzerland to unilaterally control the immigration of foreigners. Instead of the free movement of persons applicable today, the number of permits is to be limited by annual maximum figures and quotas in the future.

It is currently impossible say what the precise effect of this constitutional regulation will be and what consequences it will have in detail for researchers and students at ETH Zurich. Today’s agreement on the free movement of persons is closely intertwined with other agreements, which govern access to markets or education and research programmes, amongst other things.

Federation to prepare answers by June

Didier Burkhalter made one thing clear yesterday: “We don’t have any new immigration regulations that could be applied immediately and the quota system has not been defined yet.”

The Federal Council and parliament will have three years to do so. This means that existing permits will continue to be valid and the legal situation will not change for the time being for persons living in Switzerland under the agreement on the free movement of persons.

The Federal Council decided about the further procedure on Wednesday: it will submit an implementation concept by the end of June. This will serve as its decision-making basis for the legislation in domestic politics. The Federal Council will present the draft bill by the end of 2014. If the work on the bill takes longer, it could temporarily regulate the immigration system by issuing an ordinance.

Talks will be needed before negotiations can be held

For Didier Burkhalter, as well as for the entire Federal Council, it is clear that negotiations do not make much sense at this stage. The Federation first wants to hold “exploratory talks” in order to “clarify the open questions step by step and to work towards the best possible solutions, both domestically and in foreign policy,” said Burkhalter.

He is currently not in a position to make any statements on what agreements will subsequently be negotiated with the EU in what way and when, as this cannot be decided by Switzerland unilaterally.

Anyone expecting to hear detailed information from Burkhalter about Switzerland’s involvement in Horizon 2020, the EU’s framework programme for research and innovation, was also asked to be patient. He pointed out that the research agreement is of particular interest to the EU as well, “because Switzerland is an engine for research, education and innovation in Europe.”

Horizon 2020: securing the agreement

To ensure that researchers in Switzerland can be involved in Horizon 2020 with all rights, the Federation will need to update the corresponding association treaty for research programmes: the plan was for Switzerland to contribute CHF 4.4 billion to the Horizon 2020 package as an associated member, as has been the case since 2004.

Without such an agreement, Switzerland would probably have to find solutions on a case-by-case basis, said Burkhalter, and warned against making hasty conclusions.

One question to be answered by the Federation and the EU relates to the link of freedom of movement of persons and cooperation in research: as research programmes are directly linked to the bilateral treaties and the agreement on the free movement of persons under the research agreement, the EU has mentioned that Switzerland must expand freedom of movement of persons to Croatia if it wishes to negotiate its involvement in Horizon 2020.

However, the Federal Council did not ratify this agreement on Croatia on Wednesday due to the new constitutional regulation. First, it will have to clarify whether the entire agreement on the free movement of persons will need to be renegotiated or whether it should negotiate the freedom of movement of persons with Croatia in advance and what amendments are actually possible in this way.

The situation is similar with the EU education and youth programmes, in which Switzerland has been involved as an associated member since 2011. The Federal Council and the majority of members of parliament had also aimed for a seamless continuation of Erasmus+, the European programme for general and vocational training, youth and sport, before the outcome of the vote.