Swiss want only five bilateral treaties under EU framework agreement

According to an unpublished list that was revealed in some Swiss papers, Switzerland wants only five of around 120 bilateral treaties with the European Union to figure in a future institutional framework agreement.  A report on foreign economic policy published on Wednesday stated that an institutional framework agreement would apply to those bilateral agreements that allow access to certain areas of the European Union's (EU) internal market. The Swiss want this to span five bilateral agreements: the free movement of persons, mutual recognition of conformity agreement, agricultural products, overland transport and civil aviation.  The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) was behind the selection of the list of bilateral agreements, which was revealed on Thursday by the papers Bund and Tages-Anzeiger. SECO confirmed the Swiss position and added that future agreements on access to the European market, such as the one on electricity, could be added if the deal was ...