Swiss Review 2/2020

Swiss Review / April 2020 / No.2 11 extended or is cancelled, all seven bilateral agreements cease to apply. According to economiesuisse CEOMonika Rühl, Brexit has emphatically shown that, from the EU’s point of view, participation in the European single market is inextrica- bly linked to freedom of movement. Unfettered access to the EUmarket is the life blood of the Swiss economy, given that 50 per cent of Swiss exports go to the EU. Waiting on a framework deal However, Switzerland is going to have to reboot its rela- tionship with the EU regardless. The draft institutional framework agreement designed to replace the existing bilateral agreements has been on the table for 15 months. Certain aspects of the text remain controversial: wage protection, state subsidies, and the Citizens’ Rights Di- rective (see also “Swiss Review” 5/2019). Since last sum- mer, the Confederation, the cantons, and employer and employee organisations have beenworking behind closed doors to find appropriate solutions. The Federal Council now wants to wait until the out- come of the popular vote on 17 May before commenting on these outstanding issues. At the beginning of the year, a government delegation met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as well as the EU commis- sioner responsible for Switzerland, Johannes Hahn, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. Hahn was very understanding of Switzerland’s wait-and-see stance, said Federal Councillor Ignacio Cassis (FDP) after the meet- ing. There was no time limit for completing the negotia- tions as far as the EU was concerned. “Nevertheless, we obviously need to start moving forward after 17 May,” he added. Time is particularly of the essence for the medical technology sector, which could lose unrestricted access to the EUmarket as early as the end of May. As long as the framework deal remains on hold, the EU will not be pre- pared to update the agreements on the mutual recogni- tion of conformity assessment. That is the technical situ- ation at least, what it means in practice is serious complications and significant additional costs for day-to- day business. Switzerland will no longer be treated the same as EU member states, meaning that medtech com- panies will have to get their products certified in the EU. The business federation economiesuisse is therefore urg- ing the Federal Council to sign the framework agreement as soon as possible. Overview of all the votes on 17 May “For moderate immigration” popular initiative: Switzerland must take back full control of immigration, according to the SVP’s limitation initiative. If the SVP in- itiative is approved, Switzerland will have to terminate the Swiss-EUAgreement on the freemovement of persons. Industry groups and all the other political parties warn of serious consequences (see main text above). Revision of the Swiss Hunting Act: The Federal Council and parliament believe that relaxing the legislation that protects wolves and other animals will help to regulate the Swiss wolf population. It will allow wolves to be shot before they cause any harm. Environmen- tal and animal welfare groups are opposed to the revised Hunting Act, saying that it takes things too far (see article on page 6). Amendment to the Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation: The general childcare deduction on taxable income is to be increased from 6,500 to 10,000 francs. The SP are against the reform. In their view, it will only helpwealthy families. Parents on low incomes will not benefit, the party say, be- cause lowearners hardly pay any federal taxwhen cantonal and municipal tax are also taken into consideration. Results of the votes on 9 February No to the “More affordable homes” popular initiative: 57.1 per cent of the Swiss electorate rejected a proposal by the Swiss tenants’ association to promote social housing in Switzerland. Enough is already being done to subsidise housing, according to the Federal Council and the cen- tre-right parties. However, extra money will be injected into the National Operating Fund, from which housing cooperatives can get loans on favourable terms. See “Swiss Review” 6/2019 for more details. Yes to a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation: 63.1 per cent of voters approved an amendment to the Swiss Criminal Code and the Swiss Military Criminal Code that extends the anti-racism provision to make homophobic abuse a criminal offence. Some conservative and Christian groups opposed the new law, calling it an attack on free speech. See “Swiss Review” 6/2019 for more details.