The rapporteur of the EU-Swiss relations report, Lukas Mandl, Member of the European Parliament (Austria, EPP), and the shadow rapporteurs Assita Kanko (Belgium; ECR), Andreas Schieder (Austria, S&D), Christophe Grudler (France; Renew), Reinhard Bütikofer (GermanyGreens) wrote to the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the Swiss Confederation, Ignazio Cassis, on 15 June.
They state that they “want to emphasize with this letter of intent the clear understanding of Switzerland as an important European state, contributing heavily to Europe’s strength and to the values represented by Europe on a global scale”.
They “call not only for European-Swiss cooperation to be strengthened in may fields but also for finding a swift solution for the open questions on the institutional structure.”
Science, research and innovation is one of the cooperation fields mentioned by the letter.
The letter has been shared on Twitter:
English version to the EC: Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter on Twitter: “Das EU-Parlament protestiert gegen Stillstand. Europa ist nur gemeinsam stark. Danke @lukasmandl ! 🇨🇭🇪🇺 https://t.co/C7xk6lXzzT” / Twitter
French version to the President of the Swiss Confederation: (20) Christophe GRUDLER on Twitter: “Ayons une vision ambitieuse pour les relations entre l’Union Européenne et la Suisse ! 🇪🇺🇨🇭 Avec mes collègues rapporteurs sur les relations UE-Suisse @EP_ForeignAff, nous avons écrit une lettre pour demander une intensification des échanges ⤵️ https://t.co/O25UFiAn0n” / Twitter