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Switzerland pledges €1.1 billion over 10 years to EU in ‘cohesion’ funds

The Swiss Federal Council has pledged, as part of continuing negotiations with the EU, funds to revive struggling EU economies and assist with migration flows.

Published: 2 October 2018 15:27 CEST

Switzerland pledges €1.1 billion over 10 years to EU in 'cohesion' funds

File photo: Depositphotos

The new pledge from Switzerland, which is not part of the EU but allows free movement as part of a bilateral package of agreements from 1999, will be used in five specific areas.

“To promote economic growth and social partnership, and reduce unemployment, especially among young people; manage migration flows, promote integration and strengthen public security; protect the environment and address climate change; strengthen health and social security systems and promote civic engagement and transparency,” states a Swiss government summary.

The 1.3 billion Swiss francs (€1.14 billion), an additional to Switzerland's similar existing contribution to “EU enlargement funds,” will be used to cover the costs of vocational skills training courses but also to allow for “Swiss expertise” to provide assistance in certain situations.

The “contribution will also enable Switzerland to strengthen and deepen its bilateral relations with partner countries and the EU as a whole – an objective whose importance the Federal Council has repeatedly emphasised,” states the Swiss government on September 28th.

Relations between the Swiss government and the EU are governed by an array of bilateral contracts but the partnership turned sour after Swiss voters in 2014 approved a popular initiative calling for quotas on immigration.

The decision to increase the country's funding to the EU comes after the Federal Council and cantons widely agreed to strengthen relations during talks held over the summer of 2018.

Marginal Swiss political parties have called for Switzerland to renegotiate its current agreement to curb EU migration, although that has not resulted in a 'Swiss exit'. The wider political consensus seems to be for a maintenance of the status quo.

“Following talks held this summer with the social partners and the cantons, the Federal Council concluded that opinions differed widely and there was no consensus in Switzerland which would warrant changing the current negotiating position,” adds the government's statement.

Ideologically, the Swiss government argues that “in order to safeguard its prosperity in the long term, Switzerland depends on a secure, stable and prosperous Europe. It therefore has a vital interest in continuing to use its expertise to strengthen European cohesion and improve the management of migration flows.”

The Swiss government has also adopted a series of measures that will allow it to bilaterally implement new asylum procedures with several EU member states, adds the communiqué.

Far right ahead

Europe’s far-right parties were winners in many places, coming out on top in France, Italy and Austria, while Germany’s AfD came second – but still ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party – and the hard-right also did well in the Netherlands.

But experts warned against reading too much into their success.

“The far right did well but not excellent – let’s not forget these are second order elections,” said Francesco Nicoli, a visiting fellow at Bruegel think tank.

“We cannot say that this is a very, very significant push as things stand,” Christine Verger, vice chair of Jacques Delors think tank said. “There may be movements within the political groups. We don’t know where some MEPs will end up.”

A big question being raised is whether two main far-right groups in the parliament — Identity and Democracy (ID) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) — can unite, creating a supergroup.

Verger dismissed that notion out of hand.

“I absolutely do not believe in a unification, it is out of the question for ID and ECR to merge,” she told AFP.

The ECR includes Italian far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party came top in the elections.

As to the far right’s likely impact on lawmaking in the European Parliament, experts appeared sanguine.

“The rising number of far right MEPs will likely have only a limited impact on the EU,” predicted expert Marta Lorimer. “They do not form a blocking minority.”

Weaker Macron

The biggest single loser of the elections was Emmanuel Macron after his centrist party received a drubbing by France’s Rassemblement National (National Rally) led by Marine Le Pen.

The French president responded by swiftly dissolving France’s national parliament and calling for snap elections.

“France remains a large country with a president who has a lot of power,” Verger said.

As the head of a major EU member state, Macron will remain an important player on the European stage.

But she said the poor election performance of his Renaissance party would see it “lose some influence” within the Renew grouping that it belongs to, and the parliament in general.

Return of Von der Leyen

Analysts agreed it was a pretty good night for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who hopes to secure a second five-year mandate after the vote.

She will need the support of the EU’s 27 leaders and the new parliament – and in the latter respect the data suggests von der Leyen can breathe a sigh of relief.

Her party, the European People’s Party (EPP), remains the parliament’s biggest grouping and experts predicted she would be able to get the extra votes she needs.

Based on preliminary results, Nicoli said she could rely on the support of the Socialists and Democrats “with a choice between liberals, ECR and Greens as junior partner” – and could deal with 20 defections or more in each scenario.

“I think the elections could have been worse for her.”

Wilting Greens

It was a disappointing night for the Greens political group, which is on course to lose around 20 EU lawmakers – in a result that came as little surprise.

“Greens are the clear losers, and so is Macron, but again these were trends clearly evident before,” Nicoli said.

European concerns about security and the cost of living following the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022, and other issues including migration, displaced the environement as a voter concern.

“The Greens have not been very well placed to answer those demands,” Nicoli added.

And all across Europe, right-wing opponents have successfully channelled discontent into anger at the EU’s environmental push of recent years.

But Greens’ EU lawmaker Bas Eickhout saw the results as a “mixed bag” – and “a bit more nuanced than just saying it’s a big loss”.

He pointed to the Greens’ success in the Netherlands and Spain as well as smaller countries in the north and Baltics, including Denmark and Lithuania.

Higher turnout

Around 360 million people could vote in the elections and in welcome news, turnout was the highest in 20 years at around 51 percent, according to provisional EU data.

“The good news for democracy is that the turnout looks likely to be above half of the electorate, although that is still below participation rates for national elections, and very low in countries such as Slovakia and Lithuania,” said Heather Grabbe, a senior fellow at Bruegel.