Swiss politicians seek access after EU innovation proposal excludes Switzerland

Swiss foreign policy politicians hope Switzerland can still join an EU innovation programme, SRF reported, after the European Commission proposed giving preference to European countries in public procurement.

The proposed EU innovation law would promote innovation in public contracts, including robots for hospitals and artificial intelligence software for waste collection. The programme would be important for the Swiss economy, but the proposal currently excludes Switzerland. Preference would go to countries in the European Economic Area or on the Balkans.

The decision comes as Switzerland prepares to debate its treaty package with the EU. The Swiss Council of States is due to discuss the package’s stabilisation section at the beginning of October. When the package was agreed, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and EU chief negotiator Maroš Šefčovič said both sides supported completing the process and strengthening their bilateral relations.

That understanding had already been tested when the EU reduced duty-free import quotas for steel at the end of June. Switzerland is now also left out of the EU innovation proposal.

Grüter calls exclusion a bad idea

Swiss People’s Party MP Franz Grüter called the proposal “a bad idea”. If the European Commission genuinely wanted to make Europe more innovative in competition with the United States and China, he said, it should not exclude Switzerland from the innovation law.

Grüter, an entrepreneur and member of the Swiss People’s Party from Lucerne, said the state was not generally the driving force behind innovation. The EU should instead reduce bureaucracy and create better conditions for businesses, he said. Programmes such as the innovation law and industrial policy would make products more expensive rather than support the economy, he argued.

The Swiss People’s Party opposes the treaty package with the EU. Supporters of the bilateral agreements took a different view of the European Commission’s decision.

Pult calls for closer ties with Europe

Social Democratic MP Jon Pult said the decision showed that being on the sidelines in Europe came with significant disadvantages for Switzerland. He remained cautiously optimistic that Switzerland would be admitted once all EU institutions had considered the innovation law.

That would require Switzerland to approve the treaty package and thereby stabilise its relations with Europe, Pult said.

Schneider-Schneiter says decision is not final

Centre Party MP Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter said the decision was “not really surprising” because Switzerland was often not on the European Commission’s radar, unlike countries including those in the European Economic Area.

She said the treaty package would allow Switzerland to participate at an early stage in decisions such as the one on the innovation law. Schneider-Schneiter said she had not given up hope, adding that Switzerland would use every possible means in the coming months to join the European innovation initiative.