Contracts With Pitfalls

A sober look at the emotionally charged relationship between Switzerland and the EU

This «food for thought» examines the agreement package negotiated between Switzerland and the EU primarily from a legal perspective. It does not focus so much on the advantages and disadvantages that acceptance of the agreement would likely bring for the Swiss economy, politics, and society. These are, after all, assessed and weighed very differently by various groups and segments of the population. Instead, the lawyer and NZZ editor Katharina Fontana attempts a dispassionate analysis of precisely what the agreements contain, how the sensitive passages are to be understood, and where potential pitfalls lie.

The third, revised edition offers 20% more content: It contains four additional texts and now comprises 24 articles and interviews originally published in the NZZ.

They are divided into three thematic sections: the contrast between the judicial state and the legislative state, the free movement of persons, and the question of whether a majority of the cantons would be required in the popular vote.