
Institutional agreement

Switzerland has negotiated an institutional agreement with the EU in order to consolidate and develop Swiss-EU bilateral relations. The Federal Council considers the draft agreement to be largely in Switzerland’s interest. The government has, however, engaged in domestic clarifications on wage and worker protection, state aid and the EU Citizens' Rights Directive. In November 2020, the Federal Council determined its position and resumed contact with the EU.
The European Union (EU) is by far Switzerland’s most important partner in many areas, particularly in the economic area. Today, around 51% of all Switzerland’s exports go to the EU and about 69% of all its imports come from the EU.
With an institutional agreement with the EU, the Federal Council intends to put the established bilateral approach on a solid and sustainable basis and enable its development.
Information and explanatory documents on the institutional agreement
- Draft text of the institutional agreement (The draft of the institutional agreement is not available in English) (PDF, 1.0 MB, French)
- Institutional agreement Switzerland-EU: explanations (PDF, 1.0 MB, German)
- Institutional agreement Switzerland - EU: key points in brief (PDF, 148.5 kB, English)
- Institutional agreement: fact sheet (PDF, 103.1 kB, English)
Outcome of the consultations on the draft text of the institutional agreement
- Letter from the Federal Council to the President of the European Commission (unofficial translation; original text in French prevails) (PDF, 386.0 kB, English)
- Summary of the press conference on 07.06.2019 (Youtube)
- Institutional agreement Switzerland-EU: Federal Council to demand clarifications, Press release, 07.06.2019
- Report on the consultations on the institutional agreement between Switzerland and the European Union, 7.6.2019 (PDF, 791.3 kB, German)
- Replies from the Federal Council to questions about the Swiss-EU institutional agreement raised during the consultations (PDF, 1.1 MB, German)
- Institutional agreement: consultations (PowerPoint - in German, after opening the document, please click on «Read only») (PPTX, 7.3 MB, German)
- Written opinions of the institutions and organisations consulted
Chronology
- 2020 The Federal Council defines its position (11 November)
- 2019 Report on the consultations is approved, Federal Council demands clarifications (7 June)
- 2018 Clarification of the negotiation mandate by the Federal Council (2 March)
- 2014 Start of the negotiations (22 May) Adoption of the negotiating mandate by the Council of the EU (6 May)
- 2013 Adoption of the negotiating mandate by the Federal Council (18 December)
Status November 2020