The EFTA Parliamentary Committee meets regularly for seminars at which current challenges in trade policy are discussed. The focus of this year’s seminar will be the WTO crisis, the so-called Phase 1 trade deal between the US and China, trade talks between the EU and the US, future EU-UK relations, and trade-related aspects of the European Green Deal.
The trade seminar provides parliamentarians from the EFTA states with the opportunity to discuss these issues with various members of the European Parliament and the European Commission, and with representatives of university research institutions.
A meeting with EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan is planned, at which current priorities in EU trade policy will be discussed. The delegation will also hold talks with Clara Martinez Alberola, Deputy Head of the European Commission’s Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom, who will inform the delegation members about the upcoming negotiations on EU-UK relations.
The Swiss parliament’s EFTA/EU Delegation will be represented at this seminar by its president Eric Nussbaumer (National Council, SP, BL), Hans-Peter Portmann (National Council, FDP, ZH), Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter (National Council, CVP, BL) and Carlo Sommaruga (Council of States, SP, GE).