Mandatory EU referendum not possible, says Swiss commission

Switzerland's treaties with the European Union cannot be subject to a mandatory referendum. This is the opinion of the majority of the responsible committee of the House of Representatives, which intends to inform the government of this by letter. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The decision in favour of the letter was taken by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives by 15 votes to ten, the parliamentary services announced on Tuesday. In their view, the constitutional requirements for a mandatory referendum are not met for any of the new agreements. + Switzerland and EU reach deal on future bilateral relations The same applies to the extension of existing bilateral agreements with Brussels, according to the statement. One of the reasons given was that the agreements did not mean Switzerland was joining a supranational community. A minority of the committee, however, considered a mandatory referendum and thus the approval of the ...