Published on 24 March 2025

2019 consultations

The Federal Council held consultations on the Institutional agreement at the beginning of 2019. It decided not to initial the agreement and to consult key political and economic players.

At its meeting on 26 May 2021, the Federal Council decided not to sign the institutional agreement with the EU owing to significant differences in key areas. The Federal Council took note of the outcome of the Swiss–EU talks back in December 2018 and the fact that the EU considered the negotiations to have been concluded. The Federal Council provisionally refrained from initialling the agreement, mainly because of the outstanding issues on wage protection and the Citizens' Rights Directive.

It tasked the FDFA with organising consultations on the draft InstA in coordination with the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) and the president of the Swiss Confederation. The aim of this was to hold an interactive discussion with key political and economic stakeholders regarding their respective positions, their views on the advantages and disadvantages of the negotiations' outcome and, most importantly of all, to establish as far as possible a consolidated position on the outstanding issues in the event that dialogue with the EU were to be reinitiated.

2019 consultations

Comments received

Outcome of the consultations on the draft text of the institutional agreement

Letter from the Federal Council to the President of the European Commission (unofficial translation; original text in French prevails)

Replies from the Federal Council to questions about the Swiss-EU institutional agreement raised during the consultations

Report on the consultations on the institutional agreement between Switzerland and the European Union

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