On 9 October, members of the Federal Assembly’s EFTA/EU Delegation and the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Switzerland (DEEA) will come together at the 45th interparliamentary meeting between Switzerland and the EU, taking place in Lucerne. Discussions will focus on the Switzerland–EU package (Bilateral Agreements III), which the Council of States debated as the first chamber during the recently concluded autumn session.

The meeting will be co-chaired by Damian Müller, member of the Council of States (FDP, LU), chair of the EFTA/EP Delegation, and Norbert Lins, MEP (EPP, Germany) chair of the DEEA. The interparliamentary meetings are held annually, with Switzerland and Brussels taking turns to host them. The meetings in Switzerland are traditionally held in the home canton of the chair of the Swiss delegation, which this year is Lucerne.

The interparliamentary meeting provides an opportunity to discuss, at parliamentary level, the outcome of the initial consideration of the package in the Council of States and the next steps in both parliaments. At the meeting the delegations will also discuss wage protection, which is the subject of particularly intense debate in Switzerland and on which the European side is to be briefed first hand. Representatives from SECO, the social partners and the cantonal executing authorities will put forward their positions and describe the measures planned in Switzerland to implement the package of agreements.

The parliamentarians will also address Switzerland’s and the EU’s responses to current geopolitical, trade and technology policy challenges.

To conclude, the delegations will discuss the cooperation between the parliaments going forward.

The meeting will also be attended by representatives of the respective governments, namely the two chief negotiators for the package, Patric Franzen, Deputy State Secretary at the FDFA, and Richard Szostak, Director at the European Commission.

The Swiss Federal Assembly will be represented at the meeting by the delegation Chair Damian Müller (FDP, LU), Vice Chair Jon Pult (SP, GR), Council of States members Carlo Sommaruga (SP, GE) and Hannes Germann (SVP, SH), and National Council members Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter (The Centre, BL), Christine Badertscher (Greens, BE), Thomas Aeschi (SVP, ZG) and Hans-Peter Portmann (FDP, ZH).

Representing the European Parliament are DEEA Chair Norbert Lins (EPP, Germany) and MEPs Andreas Schieder (S&D, Austria), Lukas Mandl (EPP, Austria), Juri Ratas (EPP, Estonia), Mariateresa Vivaldini (ECR, Italy) and Villy Søvndal (Greens, Denmark).

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