Switzerland’s EU deal now faces the cantons too

Bern has once again managed to turn a constitutional question into a small national drama. After several hours of debate, the Council of States decided that the EU package should be submitted to both the people and the cantons, which means a double majority would be needed at the ballot box. The National Council now has the next move, because in Switzerland even direct democracy comes with a second chamber and a second round.

The dispute has been simmering for months and sits at the junction of law and politics. The central question is whether the EU agreements fall under the optional referendum or the mandatory one. That distinction is not cosmetic: in one case only the popular majority counts, in the other the cantons must also approve. For a country that likes to treat federal balance as a constitutional virtue, this is hardly a minor procedural squabble.

The lines in the debate were familiar enough. The Federal Council, the SP, the Greens, the GLP and parts of the FDP and Centre argued for the optional referendum. Their position was that the package does not require a constitutional amendment and should follow the practice used for Bilaterals I and II. On the other side stood the SVP and members of the Centre and FDP, who pointed to the scale of the agreements and demanded the mandatory route. The two state policy commissions, SPK-N and SPK-S, backed the double majority, while the two foreign affairs commissions, APK-N and APK-S, opposed it.

Heidi Z'graggen of the Centre from Uri, speaking as president of the SPK-S, said the effect of the agreements is so fundamental that a simple popular majority is not enough. Even though the package does not amount to EU membership, she argued, Switzerland would still give up part of its sovereignty. She also said Parliament’s legislative powers and the cantons’ participation rights would be curtailed. In her view, the double majority is part of the federal balance and, in the spirit of federalism, a necessity.

Petra Gössi of the FDP from Schwyz also came out for an obligatory referendum. She defended a sui generis model, meaning a double majority of its own kind without a constitutional amendment, as a fallback if the constitutional route failed. The package, she said, affects the cantons, so they should be able to have a say. She also argued that a double majority would bring greater legitimacy and more trust. Bern, naturally, likes to call that constitutional prudence when the political temperature rises.

Carlo Sommaruga of the SP from Geneva took the opposite view. For him, the optional referendum is the only path the constitution allows. He said the new EU treaties contain no supranational elements and therefore do not fit the logic of a state treaty referendum. Around 20 members of the chamber spoke during the more than four-hour debate, and the exchange was passionate and heavily laced with legal argument — the sort of thing that can be mistaken for clarity only in Parliament.

The chamber also dealt with the money. If the package is accepted, Switzerland would commit to annual payments for 2030 to 2036. The Council of States approved three credits — two for the cohesion contribution and one for migration — for a total of 3.3 billion Swiss francs. The agreements create a legally binding mechanism for regular Swiss cohesion contributions, each covering seven years. Switzerland would negotiate with EU states on how to pay the money out, and the contributions would not form part of the EU budget.

The next steps are already lined up. On Thursday, the Council of States will still decide on the commitment credit for Switzerland’s participation in Erasmus plus in 2027. The dossier also includes the further development part of the package: a new food-safety agreement is planned, and the health agreement is part of the extension of relations, intended to strengthen cross-border coordination and cooperation in the event of a health crisis such as a pandemic. The electricity agreement will be dealt with later, because the responsible committee has not yet finished its work on it. The whole dossier now goes to the National Council, which will have to show whether it wants the tougher democratic route or the easier one.

Written by Freya Stensrud freya.stensrud@alpineweekly.com