The bilateral agreements and Schengen
Bern, Luxembourg, Brussels
Key figures: Joseph Deiss, Micheline Calmy-Rey
Sources: FDFA, Bilateral Agreements I
After the no of 1992. The rejection of the European Economic Area on 6 December 1992 (see the stage) leaves Switzerland without guaranteed access to the European market. The Federal Council then opens sectoral negotiations with the European Union.
The Bilateral Agreements I (1999–2002). In 1999 seven agreements are signed: free movement of persons, technical barriers to trade, public procurement, agriculture, land transport, air transport and research. They are linked by a “guillotine clause”: if one falls, they all fall. On 21 May 2000 the people approve them with 67.2% of the vote; they come into force in 2002.
The Bilateral Agreements II and Schengen (2004–2008). A second package, signed in 2004, includes among other things the Schengen and Dublin agreements on police cooperation, visas and asylum. On 5 June 2005 the people approve them with 54.6%. From December 2008 systematic checks on persons at land borders with Schengen countries are abolished, and a few months later at airports too.
Free movement at the ballot box. Free movement is extended to the new EU members after votes in 2005 and 2009. On 9 February 2014, however, the people accept the initiative “against mass immigration” with 50.3%, straining relations with Brussels; on 27 September 2020 they reject, with 61.7%, the initiative to end free movement. The renewal of the bilateral path is the subject of the stage on relations with the European Union today.
The Schengen area at the end of 2023: in grey the participating countries, Switzerland included; in blue those that remain outside
Iktsokh, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0
European spaces in 2023: in blue the European Union, in purple the other members of the European Economic Area
Discombobulates, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0