Editing Economy of Switzerland (section)

===European Union===

Apart from agriculture, there are minimal economic and trade barriers between the European Union and Switzerland. In the wake of the Swiss voters' rejection of the [[European Economic Area]] Agreement in 1992, the Swiss Government set its sights on negotiating bilateral economic agreements with the EU. Four years of negotiations culminated in ''Bilaterals'', a cross-platform agreement covering seven sectors: research, public procurement, technical barriers to trade, agriculture, civil aviation, land transport, and the free movement of persons. Parliament officially endorsed the Bilaterals in 1999 and it was approved by general referendum in May 2000. The agreements, which were then ratified by the European Parliament and the legislatures of its member states, entered into force on June 1, 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bilateral agreements I (1999) |url=https://www.eda.admin.ch/europa/en/home/bilateraler-weg/bilaterale-abkommen-1.html |access-date=2024-01-13 |website=www.eda.admin.ch |language=en}}</ref> The Swiss government then embarked on a second round of negotiations, called the ''Bilaterals II'', approved by the Swiss electorate on 5 June 2005, which further strengthens the country's economic ties with the organisation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bilateral agreements II (2004) |url=https://www.eda.admin.ch/europa/en/home/bilateraler-weg/bilaterale-abkommen-2.html |access-date=2024-01-13 |website=www.eda.admin.ch |language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/deea/dv/2203_07/2203_07en.pdf Bilateral agreements Switzerland–EU]</ref>

Switzerland has since brought most of their practices into conformity with European Union policies and norms in order to maximise the country's international competitiveness. While most of the EU policies are not contentious, police and judicial cooperation to international law enforcement and the taxation of savings are controversial, mainly because of possible side effects on bank secrecy.

Swiss and EU finance ministers agreed in June 2003 that Swiss banks would levy a withholding tax on EU citizens' savings income. The tax would increase gradually to 35% by 2011, with 75% of the funds being transferred to the EU. Recent estimates value EU capital inflows to Switzerland to $8.3 billion.