On 8 January 2025, the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair organised a seminar for Natolin students on EU-Swiss relations by Professor Christa TOBLER from the University of Basel and University of Leiden, and Professor Adam ŁAZOWSKI, Visiting Professor and Scientific Coordinator of the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair at the College of Europe in Natolin, entitled: "In Search of a Way Forward: Negotiations of the New EU-Switzerland Agreement".
The EU-Swiss relations are characterised by contrapuntal tendencies. On the one hand, Switzerland remains integrated with the EU and its Member States. On the other hand, it has a reputation of being a reluctant European. The bilateral EU-Swiss framework stands out as it comprises over 120 sectoral agreements, however – thus far - it is shy of a chapeau agreement. Consequentially, the EU-Swiss framework is very patchy and hard to navigate. The practical challenges are exacerbated by the lack of a horizontal institutional set-up facilitating regular and general dialogue between the parties. While the previous attempt at negotiation of an institutional agreement failed, the two sides have returned to the negotiation table in 2024.
The aim of the seminar was to take stock of the recent developments and to look at them from the EU and the Swiss perspectives.
About the guest:
Prof. Dr. Christa TOBLER is Professor of European Law in the Institute for European Global Studies at the University of Basel and she also works at the University of Leiden. Professor TOBLER has published articles on a variety of topics within EU law. However, she is mainly interested in issues regarding equaling rights, in business law as well as social law. Her habilitation dealt with the development of the legal concept of discrimination within EU law and Swiss law, respectively. Furthermore, Prof. TOBLER conducts research on EU integration techniques, e.g. regarding its relations with third countries, and hence on bilateral law. Learn more about Prof. TOBLER in her bio here.
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