Current political developments in the EFTA states was the main topic of the EFTA Parliamentary Committee’s discussions at the Ministerial Meeting in Sauðárkrókur, Iceland. The delegates from Switzerland’s EFTA partners Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway were informed of the state of progress of negotiations between Bern and Brussels regarding the institutional framework agreement on regulating EU market access. The Parliamentary Committee also discussed economic and trade relations among the four EFTA states.
At a joint meeting with members of the EFTA Ministerial Meeting, discussions were held on the current status of EFTA free-trade policy towards non EU-states and the outlook for the future. The talks focused on current free-trade negotiations with Mercosur, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam and the ongoing development of the free-trade agreements with Mexico, Canada, Chile and SACU.
The issue of sustainable development in relation to free-trade agreements was also discussed in depth at this two-day meeting. The impact of the United Kingdom’s planned withdrawal from the EU was also on the agenda. Relations between Switzerland and the UK are currently based primarily on the bilateral agreements with the EU. When the UK leaves the EU, these will no longer apply to relations between the two countries.
At the EFTA Parliamentary Committee meeting in Sauðárkrókur, the Swiss EFTA/EU delegation made up of its president Karin Keller-Sutter (FDP, SG), President of the Council of States, and her vice president Eric Nussbaumer (SP, BL, National Council); National Council members Kathy Riklin (CVP, ZH), Thomas Aeschi (SVP, ZG), Hans Egloff (SVP, ZH) and Hans-Peter Portmann (FDP, ZH); and Council of States members Didier Berberat (SP, NE) and Konrad Graber (CVP, LU).