EU/Switzerland Cooperation Agreement: European Satellite Navigation Programmes

The European Parliament adopted by 627 votes to 4, with 33 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Swiss Confederation, of the other part, on European satellite navigation programmes.

Parliament gave its consent to the conclusion of the agreement.

Switzerland has been one of the third countries that has cooperated most closely with the EU on the Galileo programme since its inception. As a member of the European Space Agency and a long-standing informal participant in the EU's Galileo governance structures, Switzerland has made political, technical and financial contributions to all phases of Galileo.

This cooperation agreement will allow Switzerland to participate in European satellite navigation programmes. In return, Switzerland will contribute financially to the programmes.

The agreement will organise Switzerland's cooperation within the Galileo programme in order to provide a general framework for cooperation, including principles for future cooperation and complementary provisions relating to cooperation in the field of security, standardisation and certification.