The 40th Switzerland-EU inter-parliamentary meeting between the Federal Assembly’s EFTA/EU Delegation and the European Parliament’s DEEA Delegation took place in Brussels on 15 November. The two delegations discussed the future of relations between Switzerland and the EU, particularly reciprocal market access, Switzerland's participation in EU cooperation programmes, as well as Switzerland's contribution to selected EU states and the EU's Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act.

Under the joint chairmanship of National Council member Eric Nussbaumer (SP, BL) and MEP Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg (Greens, Germany), the EFTA/EU Delegation of the Federal Assembly and members of the European Parliament's DEEA Delegation, which is responsible for relations with Switzerland, exchanged views on bilateral relations between Switzerland and the EU.

This was the first inter-parliamentary meeting since the Federal Council broke off negotiations on the institutional agreement on 26 May 2021. The members of the two parliaments discussed the future of relations between Switzerland and the EU, particularly in the fields of reciprocal market access, and the release of Switzerland's contribution to selected EU states.

The head of the Swiss Mission to the EU, Ambassador Rita Adam, and the head of the EU Delegation to Switzerland, Ambassador Petros Mavromichalis, also attended the meeting and exchanged views on Switzerland's participation in the European cooperation programmes Horizon Europe and Erasmus+. In particular, Ambassador Adam stressed that in releasing its contribution to selected EU states, Switzerland had fulfilled an important expectation on the part of the European Commission with regard to Switzerland's association to Horizon Europe and that it was ready to commence discussions on a framework agreement at the earliest opportunity.

On the European side, Christel Schaldemose (Social Democrat, Denmark) presented the EU's legislative proposals, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, which could to a certain extent have an impact on the Swiss market.