BERN - The Council of States closed its marathon reading of the Swiss-EU treaty package on Thursday morning, approving the last federal decree in the stabilisation package: a commitment credit of CHF 193 million for Switzerland's participation in the Erasmus+ education programme in 2027. The credit, contested in committee, passed by 23 votes to 19 with two abstentions.
With that vote, every decree in the stabilisation part of Bilaterals III has cleared the upper house, including the new health agreement that would give Switzerland access to EU health security mechanisms and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, who steered the closing stages in the chamber, now hands the file to the National Council. The electricity agreement remains unfinished and is expected in December.
Wage protection survives, with an addition
On wages, the Senate largely held to the compromise negotiated with the social partners. The deposit currently demanded of foreign firms posting workers to Switzerland would disappear, unless a firm has already broken the rules. More disputed was the so-called Measure 14, stronger dismissal protection for employee representatives, which the economic affairs committee had tried to strike. The chamber restored it by 26 votes to 19. The measure covers firms with more than 50 staff, an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 workers, about 0.15 percent of private-sector employment. Union leaders called it a red line; Fabio Regazzi of the Centre, who heads the trade association, called it an add-on that does not belong to the treaty file.
A harder line on immigration
The sharpest departures from the government's draft came on immigration. Senators strengthened the safeguard clause with an incentive tax of CHF 4,000 per arriving worker and CHF 2,000 per adult family member, to be paid by the Swiss employer, with the proceeds returned to the population. New arrivals from the EU would also have to present a criminal record extract, a requirement approved only by 23 votes to 22 with the president's casting vote. And EU nationals who are unemployed or receiving social assistance would be barred from applying for the new permanent-residence status, with the five-year qualifying period starting again from zero.
The Federal Council warned in the debate that a blanket exclusion of welfare recipients is incompatible with the free movement of persons. That argument now moves to the National Council, which is expected to take up the package in the winter session alongside the budget. The referendum question was settled in the Senate on Wednesday: a double majority of people and cantons. The week began with the 29 to 15 entry vote and Tuesday's first day of detail.