Swiss talks grind to standstill

Date: 16/11/1995

By Elizabeth Wise

JUST like 29-tonne trucks in the Swiss Alps, EU negotiations with its Helvetian neighbours are not moving.

The talks are going so badly that the subject has been taken off the agenda for a meeting of EU foreign ministers next week and delayed until December.

Officials said the Spanish presidency took the planned discussion off the agenda for 20 November because it felt not enough progress had been made on acquiring rights for EU citizens to work in Switzerland or lifting the 28-tonne limit for freight-carrying lorries using Swiss mountain roads.

A surge of diplomatic activity this week seems not to have helped. Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock met Switzerland's new Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger in Berne on Monday. The following day, Swiss Economy Minister Jean-Pascal Delamuraz had a series of meetings with Foreign Affairs Commissioner Hans van den Broek, Single Market Commissioner Mario Monti, and Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn in Strasbourg. “I don't have the impression that there was much change,” said a Swiss diplomat after the meetings.

His sentiments were echoed by Commission officials. “Van Den Broek said it is difficult to see how we can reach agreement on those files and therefore it's difficult to see how we can reach an agreement on the package,” said an aide to the Commissioner.

He cited Delamuraz as saying the EU should find “sufficient margin for manoeuvre” without demanding a Swiss policy change. “We don't share that opinion,” he added.

Of the seven chapters making up current EU-Swiss negotiations, two threaten to delay a package deal hoped for the end of this year that the government - but not the Swiss people - envisages as a step towards EU membership.

Perhaps the most disputed point is the question of the rights of EU citizens who wish to work in the tiny but affluent country. The Union wants its workers to enjoy the same rights as they already have in European Economic Area countries - to work if offered a job and to look for work for up to three months without a work permit.

Swiss officials say they are willing to improve the status of EU workers already there, but are not willing to alter their policy of distributing work permits within yearly quotas for job sectors and worker nationality. Because the permit distribution is administered by cantons, “it will not be easy” to change the policy, said a Swiss diplomat.

Spain, Portugal and Italy, the EU states with the highest proportions of emigrant workers, are pushing hardest for employment rights in Switzerland. Meanwhile, Germany, France, Italy and Austria are pushing for a quick settlement on a transport dispute.

While the freight limit on EU roads is 40 tonnes, concerns for the environmental health of the alpine region means “28 tonnes are the keystone of Swiss policy”, said the diplomat, adding that the limit was enshrined in a 1992 EU-Switzerland transport accord and was valid until 2005.

Swiss officials say that despite their demand that Swissair have the same rights as EU airlines, “air transport is not a breaking point” in negotiations. Kinnock aides say Swiss demands are too great and that the EU “is prepared to give, but not a lot”.

“We're making slow progress,” said one. “But even if we made extraordinary progress on transport, it would not unlock the other chapters.”

Swiss officials maintain talks on research cooperation, access for farm goods and public procurement access are going well. But the EU insists there will be no deal with Berne on any issue until all are resolved.