In its capacity as a consultative body within the EFTA institutions, Switzerland’s parliamen-tary EFTA/EU Delegation holds regular exchanges with both the EFTA Ministerial Council and the EFTA Court. The EFTA/EU Delegation also fosters relations with the European Par-liament and with representatives of other European institutions. It is in this context that the delegation will hold discussions with Prof. Carl Baudenbacher, President of the EFTA Court, and Prof. Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, on the functioning of the two institutions on 16 and 17 November.
Since the spring of 2014, Switzerland and the European Union have been negotiating a framework agreement intended to define new procedural rules for selective participation in the single market. The Federal Council’s negotiation mandate of 18 December 2013 sug-gests, among other things, that in the event of disputes both Switzerland and the EU could submit questions on the interpretation of EU law arising from a market access agreement to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
After the discussions in Luxembourg, the delegation will travel to Brussels to attend an EF-TA/EEA forum on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the possi-ble consequences should an agreement be concluded. The delegation will then attend in an observer capacity a meeting of the EEA Joint Parliamentary Committee, where discussions will focus on institutional matters, the digital single market and a new design for the European electricity market.
Kathy Riklin, member of the National Council (CVP/ZH), chair of the EFTA Parliamentary Committee (CMP) and president of the Swiss EFTA/EU Delegation, Konrad Graber, mem-ber of the Council of States (CVP/LU) and Eric Nussbaumer, member of the National Coun-cil (SP/BL) will be representing the Swiss Federal Assembly at the various meetings.
Bern, 13 November 2015 Parliamentary Services