Switzerland will pay the EU €375m per year to get access to its single market as part of an agreement announced Monday (2 March).
The deal will also mean unfettered freedom of movement for Swiss nationals and for their EU counterparts to live and work in Switzerland — despite a cap on movement having previously been demanded by Swiss negotiators.
Immigration control has long been one of the main priorities of Swiss federal lawmakers.
In June, they are set to vote on whether to cap the country’s population at 10 million until 2050. The proposal, tabled by the rightwing populist Swiss People’s Party, would bind the government to terminate free movement with the EU if the 10m cap was exceeded.
The population rising above 9.5 million would also trigger a clause that requires lawmakers to “renegotiate international agreements that drive population growth.”
Despite being surrounded by EU members, with thousands of people crossing both sides of the border for their daily commute, Switzerland has long had a complicated relationship with the EU.
Some 1.5 million EU citizens live in Switzerland, while roughly 450,000 Swiss citizens live in the 27-nation bloc. But the agreement signed by EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Swiss president Guy Parmelin binds the Bern government much closer to the EU than previous arrangements.
As part of the deal, Switzerland will participate in the EU agency that helps countries prevent and control infectious diseases (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control), benefiting from its early warning and response system.
Under a series of pacts agreed last November, it already has access to the EU’s Digital Europe, the multi-billion euro research and development programme Horizon Europe and the Erasmus+ student exchange scheme.
It will also harmonise rules on food safety to establish a common food safety area covering all dimensions of the food chain.
Model for UK?
The UK, for its part, is also hoping to broker an agreement with the EU on phytosanitary and food safety standards in the coming months.
A new agreement on electricity, meanwhile, will allow the participation of Switzerland in the EU internal electricity market.
It will also be expected to use the same state aid rules as the EU in the air transport, land transport and electricity sectors.
At a press conference on Monday, von der Leyen said that the series of new sectoral deals, which have been two years in the making, would bring “concrete and lasting benefits”.
She added that students would be able to study at universities on both sides of the border without additional fees.
But Switzerland will pay for the privilege of access, coughing up €375m per year from this year until 2036.
It will also stump up €140m per year in back payments since the end of 2024.