Switzerland And The Eu

This book demonstrates the range, depth and complexity of Switzerland’s developing relations with Europe and provides detailed and up-to-date information on Switzerland itself.

This study explains in an accessible manner the key elements of the relationship between the Swiss Confederation and the European Union. The author begins by summarizing the main steps in this special and evolving relationship which has long oscillated between membership and marginalization. He also guides us expertly through the thickets of referendums (no fewer than fourteen from 1972 to the time of writing!) in which Swiss citizens have been given the opportunity to pass judgment on the European question. Finally and perhaps most importantly, this volume explains why the Swiss still oppose joining the European Union. It examines the thorny questions of identity, reservations on policy matters (preserving neutrality, direct democracy and Swiss style federalism), not to mention doubts regarding the economy, which have done so much to shape public opinion and the official strategy of the Swiss Confederation. Paradoxically, the closer Switzerland gets to the EU through bilateral agreements, the more distant prospects of joining the EU seem to become. This is the conundrum at the heart of the relationship between the Swiss Confederation and the European Union which is expertly explored in this volume.

What makes the relationship between Switzerland and the EU so challenging? For both parties, mutual relations are of crucial importance, not least economically. As a result of the Swiss voters’ rejection of the European Economic Area 30 years ago, there is at present a large number of agreements that provide for Switzerland's partial participation in the EU's internal market as well as other matters. At the same time, there has now for more than a decade been an increasing degree of institutional and legal uncertainty. The present volume offers an inventory of different sides of this special relationship, which is interesting also in a comparative context.

The book provides the first systematic overview of Swiss political economy in comparative perspective. It provides an analysis of major socio-economic institutions, economic actors, economic and social policies, and political institutions and their recent changes.

Although it is one of very few countries in Europe that has chosen to remain outside the EU, Switzerland is closely integrated with the Union. Two sets of recently negotiated bilateral sectoral agreements provide further integration. This study analyzes the functioning of the bilateral agreements between Switzerland and the EU, focusing on the agreements that entered into force in 2002. Particular attention is paid to the institutional arrangements and their ability to adapt to new legal and political developments in the EU, the impact on the functioning of Swiss democracy, and how the Swiss political system affects the implementation of the agreements. Comparison is also made with the experiences of the European Economic Area, the only arrangement for integration without membership that is more extensive than the Swiss model. The study concludes with an assessment of the prospects for EU-Swiss relations.

This book offers an up-to-date assessment of the state of Switzerland-EU relations with the aim of drawing lessons from the Swiss experience to shed light on the challenges facing the UK post-Brexit and, more broadly, on how non-member states can adapt to "integration without membership". The book covers the main issues in the Swiss experience of dealing with the EU over the last 30 years. These include the determinants of the 1992 vote, the architecture of the bilateral agreements signed since then, the economic interests at stake, the role played by immigration, the impact on the country’s federal system, the political, social, and cultural factors shaping attitudes to integration, and how the "Swiss model" has featured in the discourse about Brexit. The concluding chapter identifies the key lessons Switzerland’s experience offers for the British debate on the country’s relations with the EU post-Brexit. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European Union politics, European politics, Swiss Politics, British Politics, Brexit, and more broadly to international relations.

This book analyses Switzerland’s European policies using the concept of differentiated European integration, providing a new and original perspective on the country. This analytical approach focuses on the similarities between Switzerland's EU policies and the integration of EU member states. The latter have often been the focus of research as Switzerland is the last Western European country not to have become a member of the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA). The book claims that Switzerland’s position on the European integration map is different in terms of degree from many EU member states, but not different in kind. The cornerstone of the book is new empirical data quantitatively measuring Switzerland’s differentiated integration during the period 1990 – 2010. The data rely on the sectoral agreements Switzerland concluded with the EU and the voluntary incorporation of EU law into domestic legislation. The book shows, among other findings, that over time Swiss European policies have begun to resemble integration policies and that the more they did so, the more dynamically they evolved.