At separate meetings with the President of the Austrian National Council,Wolfgang Sobotka, and the President of the Austrian Federal Council,Inge Posch-Gruska, Mrs Keller-Sutter stressed the close and diverse relations between Switzerland and Austria, citing the example of the Rhine Valley. The Rhine Valley is Switzerland’s second most productive export region and is one of Austria’s strongest economic regions. Around 30,000 workers commute over the border in the area every day, the majority travelling from Austria to Liechtenstein or Switzerland.
In view of this, Mrs Karin Keller-Sutter called for more effective cross-border coordination, in order to tackle challenges together in areas such as residential development, use of living space and transport infrastructure. In particular, the President of the Council of States urged her Austrian colleagues to commit to the rapid realisation of a Rhine Valley motorway link between Switzerland and Austria.
The importance of the St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport was also discussed at the meetings. Mrs Keller-Sutter referred to a joint study by the Rheintal and Vorarlberg trade associations, according to which 84% of the value created by St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport has its effect in the region of Eastern Switzerland-Vorarlberg-Liechtenstein. She therefore called for a joint regional development strategy for the airport, which she is convinced is also a factor in the decision of companies to locate in the area. St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport must therefore be allowed to develop to a moderate extent.
Further talks also focused on bilateral relations between Switzerland and the EU and current negotiations on institutional matters. The programme for Austrian’s EU presidency expressly states that under Austria’s presidency, negotiations with Switzerland on an institutional framework agreement could be concluded. Mrs Keller-Sutter stressed that Swiss agreement to a framework agreement requires a commitment to independent salary protection measures. In addition, the President of the Council of States reminded her Austrian counterparts that accompanying measures were not up for discussion in the negotiations on a framework agreement.
With a view to consolidating the close relations between Switzerland and the EU, which are based on a network of around 20 bilateral and over 100 other agreements covering a large range of policy areas, Mrs Keller-Sutter also called for the rapid and indefinite extension of stock market equivalence, reiterating the view that Switzerland meets all the requirements for unrestricted recognition by the EU of the equivalence of the Swiss stock market regulatory system.
The meetings concluded with a visit to the Garden Palace and the City Palace of the Princely Family of Liechtenstein. Both palaces are still owned by the Princely Family and are deeply rooted in Viennese history. President of the Council of States Karin Keller-Sutter was accompanied on her two-day working visit to the Austrian capital by National Council member Kathy Riklin (CVP, ZH) and the deputy head of the International Affairs and Multilingualism Section, Cédric Stucky.