Adjusting the sails: the future of the CH–EU bilateral approach
Bellinzona, 19.09.2025 — Speech by Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis at an event organised by the Camera di Commercio Cantone Ticino, Economiesuisse and the Swiss Association for Foreign Policy on the Swiss-EU package in Bellinzona - Check against delivery
Director of the Chamber of Commerce
Luca Albertoni
President of the Swiss Foreign Policy Society, National Councillor Jon Pult
Honourable Deputy Mayor of Bellinzona Fabio Käppeli
Esteemed federal and cantonal parliamentarians
Fellow citizens
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a pleasure to be here, at the Teatro Sociale in Bellinzona, on this evening which offers us a valuable opportunity to discuss together the future of relations between Switzerland and the EU.
I would like to thank the Chamber of Commerce of the Canton of Ticino and the Swiss Foreign Policy Society for the cordial invitation.
A constant in our history
Switzerland has always been attentive to its neighbours. Which is perfectly natural, living as we do at the heart of Europe, with EU member states all around us. We trade, work, study and share cultures with our neighbours.
The quality of these relations has always been crucial to our prosperity and security. And indeed for our quality of life.
Post-1992: the bilateral approach
We remember it well: in 1992, the Swiss electorate said ‘no’ to joining the European Economic Area. It was a democratic decision, which prompted us to find another way forward.
The path we chose turned out to be a bilateral approach: tailor-made agreements with the EU, built step by step over the 30 years that followed.
We have now achieved targeted participation in the EU single market, we have been able to innovate, create jobs, strengthen research and ensure stability. It has been a successful model, recognised as such around the world.
Time does not stand still
Today, however, reality speaks for itself: while the EU continuously updates the rules of its single market, our agreements remain static.
If we do nothing, the bilateral approach is doomed to fail, taking with it our chance to participate as we see fit in the EU single market.
The new Switzerland–EU package
That is why, in June of this year, the Federal Council approved a new package of agreements with the EU and launched a consultation process which will last until the end of October.
So what does it include? The package brings us advantages in the following areas:
- stability and predictability, with clear-cut rules for our access to the single market;
- new agreements on electricity – to strengthen our energy security – and on health, to ensure food quality and patient safety;
- research and innovation: with participation in research programmes such as Horizon Europe – vital for universities, start-ups and skilled jobs;
- protection for Swiss wages: which will remain guaranteed;
- a safeguard clause on migration, to be able to respond if serious difficulties arise;
- better conflict management, through an independent arbitration panel, instead of uncertain political solutions;
- our direct democracy remains intact: no decision can be taken without parliamentary and popular approval.
In essence, it is a matter of updating what we are already familiar with from the first package of bilaterals – i.e. air and land transport, trade in industrial and agricultural goods, and free movement of persons – agreements that have sustained our prosperity for 25 years.
What is new is the addition of crucial areas for the future: energy and health. In addition, we have settled two important institutional aspects – the adjustment of rules to participate in the market (dynamic adoption of legislation) and the settlement of disputes (arbitration panel).
Everything else in our legal system remains intact.
Ladies and gentlemen
Why the Federal Council considers it to be a strategic necessity
The world is at a historical turning point: wars, obstacles to trade and rivalries between great powers are reshaping previous certainties. The law of the strongest has returned to centre stage, and the international order that emerged after the Cold War is faltering.
In this phase of global change, Switzerland cannot remain immobile: we must strengthen the foundations of our well-being, i.e. the agreements that regulate our relations with the rest of the world.
Our biggest single partner remains, by some distance, the EU: in the trade of goods alone we are talking about CHF 300 billion per year. I am not counting services, such as banking, insurance and consulting – only the trade in goods.
That means more than CHF 800 million each day. In practice, during these two hours we are spending together today, goods worth some CHF 70 million will have passed between Switzerland and the EU.
More than half of our exports go to the EU. We can express this with a stark, simple image: for every two franc coin we keep in our pocket, fifty cents depend on the EU.
This demonstrates in concrete terms that this link is not just a detail: it is the basis of our prosperity.
Of course, the United States and China are also important partners. But the numbers speak for themselves: with the US we trade about a fifth of what we trade with the EU; with China, only a tenth.
And let us remember that the EU single market is the largest in the world – with 450 million people and EUR 16 trillion in wealth. For Switzerland – which is geographically at the heart of the continent – remaining on the margins is not an option.
Stabilising relations with the EU is therefore not a political whim, but pure common sense. It is a strategic step to ensure not only our prosperity, but also our security in an unstable world.
As an Arab proverb says: “Those who live in peace with their neighbours, sleep without fear.”
A collective commitment
The package does not only concern export firms. It concerns all of us:
- workers, who need opportunities and protections;
- researchers and students, who want to participate in major scientific programmes;
- consumers, who want good-quality products at a fair price;
- families, who need safe and affordable energy.
That is why the current consultation is important: to listen not only to the experts, but to society as a whole.
Here in Ticino, the border is not an abstract concept: it is a part of daily life, with tens of thousands of cross-border commuters coming in every day to work alongside us, and the Gotthard linking us to the rest of Europe.
I know that the debate on Europe is lively, sometimes heated, because we experience the advantages – but also the difficulties – of our borders. We are in a favourable position, but also a challenging one, which requires clear and stable rules.
Precisely for this reason, a strong message can be sent from Ticino to the whole of Switzerland: let us choose stability – and not uncertainty.
Ladies and gentlemen
Fellow citizens
The bilateral approach is not a thing of the past: it is the road that has brought us this far and which we must strengthen for the future.
The new Swiss–EU package does not limit our independence. On the contrary, it consolidates it, because only those who are solid can remain truly sovereign.
It is not a luxury. It's a guarantee. For our well-being, for our young people, and for our energy and health security.
Switzerland is strong when it knows how to look beyond its borders without losing its identity. This package allows us to do exactly that: remain ourselves, but connected to the world around us.
Ladies and gentlemen
The world is in a storm, and we cannot stop the wind. But what we can do is adjust the sails: with solid relations with our neighbours, Switzerland remains the captain of its own journey.
I invite you to talk about it, to form an opinion, and to make your voice heard.
Thank you sincerely for your attention today – and for your active participation in this debate, which is fundamental for our country.