Despite EU treaty snub, Brussels is banking on forcing Switzerland back to the table

The plucky Swiss, after more than seven years of talks with the EU, said 'hard cheese' to Brussels yesterday.

In scenes to cheer Brexiteers left bruised by the Brexit negotiations, Switzerland walked away from the negotiation table they had been sitting at, on and off, since 2013.

Ultimately, the EU’s demands over freedom of movement, access to the Swiss labour market and insistence on dynamic alignment with EU regulations and the famous level playing field proved too much.

Bern told the EU ‘no deal’ and rejected the European Commission’s demand for a single overarching treaty to govern its economic ties to the bloc.

EU officials accused Switzerland of “cherry-picking” in its demands for talks over Single Market access. Now, what is the Swiss for déjà vu?

So is the land of cuckoo clocks and chocolate ready to go no deal, WTO terms with its largest trading partner and one that basically surrounds it entirely?

Not a bit of it. This is not a Swixit; not least because Switzerland is not an EU member state, nor in the European Economic Area, nor in the Customs Union.

It is a member of the Single Market. The Swiss may chafe against free movement and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, but it is not leaving the Single Market to be rid of them, as Britain did.

EU-Swiss economic relations are governed by 120 different agreements, including a 50-year-old trade deal.

The commission says that combining all these under the framework of a single treaty would simplify and modernise the relationship. It would also, as the UK could find out in the near future, cost Switzerland valuable leverage in any dispute with Brussels.

Those 120 agreements will stay in place but, EU officials warn, will only preserve existing Single Market access. There will be no new agreements negotiating access, which as EU rules change and evolve could begin to increase pressure on Switzerland.

The Swiss stand is a refreshing alternative to the EU orthodoxy that size matters and resistance is futile.

But, as in Brexit, Brussels is prepared to be patient and play the waiting game. Steeled by Brexit, the commission is prepared to play hardball. It is confident that the heft of 450 million consumers in the Single Market will tell on the Alpine nation in the end.

Yesterday a new EU regulation on medical devices came into force. At the moment the negotiations collapsed, Swiss certificates for the sector were no longer recognised by the EU.

That means Swiss medical equipment placed on the market would be treated as if it comes from any other non-EU country, rather than one with such deep ties to the bloc.

EU officials warn it is only a matter of time before Swiss access in other sectors, such as agriculture or even the electricity market, are affected by similar rule changes and that, they calculate, will put pressure on Bern to come back to the table.

The Swiss clock is ticking.

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