Skip main navigation

New offer! Get 30% off your first 2 months of Unlimited Monthly. Start your subscription for just £35.99 £24.99. New subscribers only T&Cs apply

Find out more

From the present to the future

Watch Prof. Christa Tobler introduce the present and the future of the legal and political relationship between the EU and Switzerland.
9.7
Welcome to our last course week! Time flies, does it not? You may remember that at the beginning of this FutureLearn course I welcomed you on the River Rhine. I said that the Rhine spanned several European countries, and that seen in this manner Basel is in a truly European location. I also pointed out that Switzerland is in a rather special position because it is fully surrounded by the EU and the EEA without itself being a member of either. In our course, we have learned about the position of Switzerland in Europe, looking at a number of difficult issues among others in the fields of money and migration.
54.8
We saw that Switzerland is by no means a legal island that can act independently of its neighbours and of the rest of the world. Rather, there is a high degree of interconnectedness, in particular, economically. We also learned that in order to facilitate exchange, Switzerland has entered into a large number of agreements with its neighbours, in particular, through the EFTA Convention and thorough the Swiss EU sectoral or bilateral agreements. In our course, we have attempted to gain a certain insight into this particular legal situation. At the end of our course, we will consider the present state of the legal and political relationship between Switzerland and the EU against the background of the discussion of the previous weeks.
106.7
Based on the most recent developments, we will turn our attention to different scenarios for the future. Returning to the key word of money used at the beginning of this course, the example of a potential future agreement on financial services will be used to discuss different approaches of association to the EU’s internal market in demanding areas, such as taking over EU harmonisation, or as an alternative, an approach based on equivalence. On a more general level, the future of the Swiss EU relationship and the position of non-Member States vis-a-vis important European organisations, such as the EU and the EEA will be considered. Once again, we look forward to working with you!

How will the Swiss-EU legal relationship develop in the future?

The further development of the Swiss-EU legal relationship is shaped by political developments on the side of both parties, Switzerland and the European Union (EU). At the same time, the conclusion of new agreements presents more challenges in the modern, highly regulated and interconnected world than it did in previous times.

This article is from the free online

Switzerland in Europe: Money, Migration and Other Difficult Matters

Created by
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

Reach your personal and professional goals

Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.

Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.

Start Learning now