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The Council of States of SP Christian Levrat (50) expects a “political theater”. The SVP will do it on Wednesday in the Chamber of the National Council, on Thursday in the Council of States. The party promoted an extraordinary session in both councils. Subject: the framework agreement. In two advances, it demands that the Federal Council immediately sink it or at least make sure that the points that are still open are registered in a binding way in the text of the contract.
It feels like chapter 327 in this seven-year-old poker in the EU. What has been completely forgotten is how it actually happened: it was a former CVP president to whom Switzerland owes this confusion.
Stähelin thinks it is an exaggeration to be called “father”
On 5 October 2005, the then Council of States of Thurgau, Philipp Stähelin (76), presented a proposal to the parliament entitled “Framework Agreement between Switzerland and the EU”. 15 years have passed since then. What do you say today that caused us difficulties with the EU?
“’Broken’ is beautiful!” Says Stähelin with a laugh as VIEW sits across from him in his office on Frauenfeld TG. To call him the father of the deal, he finds it “over the top”. He invented the term: a few months after Switzerland confirmed the bilateral route in a vote and accepted the Schengen-Dublin Agreement, talks took place between the then Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey (75) and the responsible commissioner of the EU Benita Ferrero -Waldner (72) instead.
“Suddenly it seemed like an agreement like this,” recalls Stähelin, who at the time chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee. “I wanted to know from the Federal Council what it was supposed to be and what its vision is.”
Who is in charge?
Stähelin was plagued with political questions: Who in Switzerland is really responsible for EU policy? It is true that the Federal Council formally has the right to enter into agreements with other states or organizations. But the convinced federalist – before his stay in Bern, Stähelin was a member of the Thurgau government – thought that something of such importance should not be presented to parliament and the people in the end. “It’s just that it’s not that clearly regulated. That was a single wildebeest. “
Ten years after Stähelin left the Council of States, this issue is no longer the center of attention. Instead, it’s about wage protection, state subsidies, and social welfare rights. The Thurgau doesn’t like that. “I am fundamentally against what is now on the table.
There is too much content in it: wages and what I don’t know. “
Stähelin wanted a roof
What he wanted was a ceiling on all the bilateral treaties regulating formalities. Procedure, how to adapt the law, how to draft new contracts, what applies. We are further removed than ever from this idea. Five bilateral agreements are still covered by the framework agreement.
The Federal Council needs three clarifications before saying yes to the framework agreement. Image: Keystone
The Federal Council basically agrees with the framework agreement. In three areas, however, it calls for improvements:
- Salary protection: Brussels wants Switzerland to take over the EU wage protection. Unions, but also employers, are fundamentally against it. They fear for the Swiss salary level.
- State aid: In the EU area, state aid such as subsidies and tax exemptions are prohibited if they distort competition. A problem for Switzerland: this could also include hydroelectric power, which is subsidized by the cantons.
- Unionsbürgerrichtlinie: If Switzerland had to take over, EU citizens in Switzerland could get social assistance more quickly. There is widespread resistance to this.
Stähelin also does not like the fact that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) must interpret the law in litigation. “We become dependent on a foreign court!” He believes that now we take revenge for not moving forward years ago. “If a solution had been found between 2005 and 2010, the ECJ would never have had this role. There would simply have been an arbitration court, as was normal at the time. “
“The Federal Council runs the risk of landing on a wall!”
Stähelin believes that the chances of a deal are slim. “I think that the Federal Council has not yet understood what is happening. The resistance is growing, and far beyond the SVP, ”he says, alluding to criticism from his own party and the FDP. He says: “The clearer the content, the more the deal will be criticized.” Especially since the EU has become stubborn. “The Federal Council is in great danger of landing on a wall.”
Stähelin would still find a ceiling that stipulates the rules of the game very useful, however close relations with the EU may be. “But that everything, including salary issues, is regulated, that cannot be wise.” The former Council of States will not pursue “political theater” on Wednesday. “I can occupy my time better,” said the father of five.
