This was the second meeting this year of the two parliamentary presidents, who met in Luxembourg at the meeting between parliamentary presidents of the German-speaking countries, at which they arranged the visit to Berlin. In their discussion, they paid tribute to the flourishing bilateral relations between Germany and Switzerland, and highlighted the many things the two countries have in common. EU policy matters formed a key focus of their talks; the Swiss delegation, which included the president and vice president of the Delegation for Relations with the German Bundestag, Council of States member Joachim Eder (FDP, ZG) and National Council member Thomas Hardegger (SP, ZH), explained Switzerland’s current domestic situation. At the end of September the Federal Council made a fundamental decision to continue negotiations on the institutional framework agreement between Switzerland and the EU on the basis of the current negotiating mandate, while remaining in contact with the social partners and the cantons. Domestically, a possible change to the so-called accompanying measures is particularly controversial. There is also consternation regarding the EU’s decision to only temporarily recognise the equivalence of the Swiss stock exchange and its insistence that the framework agreement negotiations should soon be concluded. Switzerland does not welcome the way Brussels is linking non-related items of business and exercising pressure, and finds this counter-productive. Wolfgang Schäuble, who originally comes from the Swiss-German border region and is familiar with Switzerland’s political processes, expressed his understanding for this position and offered to help to make Switzerland’s voice heard in Brussels. However, he pointed out that the interests in Southern Germany are somewhat different, and that a pragmatic, non-bureaucratic solution regarding the accompanying measures must be sought.
The meeting with members of the Committee on the Affairs of the European Union also focused on relations between Switzerland and the EU. There was general agreement that the institutional framework agreement did not fundamentally reshape relations between the two parties, but merely provided an umbrella for existing agreements. However, the upcoming popular votes on the Self-Determination Initiative (Selbstbestimmungsinitiative) and the initiative to end the free movement of persons (Kündigungsinitiative) could endanger Switzerland’s relationship with the EU, and these domestic hurdles must be taken into account in negotiations. The Committee chair, Bundestag member Gunther Krichbaum (CDU), suggested that the Committee visit Switzerland in order to familiarise themselves more closely with the situation.
There was also a meeting with the German-Swiss parliamentary friendship group, which was reconstituted this summer and is now chaired by Bundestag member Thorsten Frei (CDU). The purpose of this meeting was for the two delegations to establish contact and to set a date for their next bilateral meeting. This is now scheduled for spring 2019. Relations between the two parliaments were institutionalised in 2005, when two permanent delegations were established. The German-Swiss parliamentary friendship group and the Delegation for Relations with the German Bundestag are devoted to furthering relations between the two neighbouring countries and regularly exchange information on cross-border issues.
The programme was rounded off with a visit to the Stasi Museum, where the journalist and civil rights activist Roland Jahn gave a tour of the Stasi documents archive and headquarters. Roland Jahn has been the Federal Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic (BStU) since 2011. He explained the authority’s activities to the Swiss delegation and discussed with its members how Germany has come to terms with the SED dictatorship. The authority administers and researches the files and documents of the former German Democratic Republic’s Ministry for State Security.
The delegation also visited some young Swiss entrepreneurs in Berlin. The founders of the Velt company showed the Swiss parliamentarians around their co-working space, shared by the Velt employees and those of some other companies, and explained the challenges faced by a Swiss start-up in Germany.