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It was a last minute breakthrough: on Christmas Eve, the EU and Britain agreed to a Brexit deal. The trade package will enter into force on January 1, 2021, initially provisionally, as the other EU member states have yet to give their consent.
Brexit negotiations were also closely monitored in Switzerland. As the British leave the EU, Switzerland is discussing a rapprochement: with the institutional framework agreement, which is highly controversial.
The Brexit deal is a grain of sand for EU rivals: “Boris Johnson got it right,” National Councilor Senior Vice President Roger Köppel (55) said on Twitter. “Hard negotiations, without submission, agreement reached, without foreign legislators and judges.” Because: In the agreement, the Court of Justice of the European Communities does not play a role in the settlement of disputes.
“Two fundamentally different systems”
In Switzerland, however, the proposed arbitration mechanism is highly controversial. Does the Federal Council have to renegotiate this? Is Britain becoming a model for Switzerland?
For the European lawyer Christa Tobler (59) the answer is clear: “No, the agreement between the EU and Great Britain is not a model for Switzerland. Again apples and pears are compared. “
The reason is simple, says the Basel professor to BLICK: “There are two fundamentally different systems.” The bilateral agreements between Switzerland and the EU are full of EU legal regulations. Switzerland is, to a certain extent, part of the enlarged internal market of the EU. “The Court of Justice of the European Communities has a role to play here: the EU cannot and will not accept anything else.”
Brexit deal without EU law
The trade agreement between Britain and the EU is completely different. “This agreement does not contain EU law, so there is no need for a Court of Justice of the European Union to resolve disputes.” Britain is no longer explicitly part of the EU internal market. Rather, the agreement is based on WTO law and goes much less far than bilateral agreements.
Britain is giving up not only the free movement of people, but many advantageous regulations as well. For example, with technical barriers to trade. “Products now have to be re-certified twice: in the EU and Great Britain. There is no mutual recognition, “says Tobler. That increases the financial and bureaucratic effort.
Penetration: The EU agrees to a Brexit deal with the British(01:35)
More difficult to communicate
Therefore, Tobler does not believe that the Federal Council will put the arbitration mechanism on the table again in the next talks. “If we want to keep the bilateral system, we cannot avoid certain admissions,” Tobler said. “Otherwise, you will have to do without a framework agreement.”
Nor in the federal administration is it supposed that now there will be important material changes in the initial situation. Our access to the internal market is much deeper, explains one of the people involved. In terms of communication, however, many things are changing: now it will be more difficult to convey why the Court of Justice of the European Communities should have something to say in this country.
Tobler also sees it this way: “The Federal Council will have to do a lot of explanatory work. The image of apples and pears often makes sense to people. “
