Results country programmes in EU-12 countries

Promoting renewable energy, creating employment and strengthening civil society: the final review of Switzerland's enlargement contribution summarises the results of the Swiss-backed projects.

Swiss Enlargement Contribution: Annual Report 2017

The ten countries that joined the EU in 2004 have completed their projects under the enlargement contribu-tion. SECO and the SDC have taken stock of the last decade and published the results in their 2017 annual report. The projects have made a significant contribution to reducing economic and social disparities in Europe. Switzerland was also able to use its expertise to make a meaningful contribution to a number of projects.

The Swiss Enlargement Contribution

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs present an interim balance sheet on the first five years since the approval of the Enlargement Contribution to the new 10 EU-Member States. The projects are to be implemented within another five year period, i.e., by 2017.

Boosting research in ten EU member states

NGO fund in twelve EU member states

Swiss Enlargement Contribution: Annual Report 2017

Swiss Enlargement Contribution: Annual Report 2017

Microcredit financing for micro enterprises and the self employed in Latvia

One billion well invested

05.06.2018 – Article
The ten countries that joined the EU in 2004 have completed their projects under the enlargement contribution. SECO and the SDC have taken stock of the last decade and published the results in their 2017 annual report. The projects have made a significant contribution to reducing economic and social disparities in Europe. Switzerland was also able to use its expertise to make a meaningful contribution to a number of projects.

Consultation on a second Swiss contribution

28.03.2018 –
At its meeting on 28 March 2018, the Federal Council decided to initiate the consultation procedure on a second Swiss contribution to selected EU member states. With this contribution, Switzerland aims to continue to contribute to the reduction of economic and social disparities in the EU member states. Last year, the Federal Council set two priorities for this contribution: vocational education and training and migration.

10 years of contribution to the enlarged EU: efforts pay off

19.06.2017 – Press releases

The 10-year implementation period for Switzerland’s enlargement contribution to the 10 central and eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004 came to an end on 14 June 2017. Under the contribution, Parliament approved a total of CHF 1 billion to implement 210 projects which have helped reduce economic and social disparities among broad sections of the population living in the EU.

Sciex research programme comes to an end

28.09.2015 – Article

The closing ceremony of the Sciex scholarship programme was held on 25 September 2015. Thanks to this programme, more than 500 doctoral and post-doctoral students could visit Switzerland for a limited period to conduct and expand their research. 

State Secretary in the Baltic states

22.05.2015 – Article

State Secretary Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch travelled to the Baltic states from 18 to 22 May. Her itinerary included three projects that Switzerland is supporting through its enlargement contribution.

Federal Council opens consultation on the continuation of the Federal Act on Cooperation with the States of Eastern Europe

17.12.2014 – Press releases
The Federal Council has opened the consultation on the continuation of the Federal Act on Cooperation with the States of Eastern Europe (Eastern Europe Cooperation Act). The current act is still valid until the end of May 2017. A timely prolongation should enable the seamless continuation of cooperation with the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The consultation will last until 31 March 2015.

1,000 microcredits – 2,000 ways of getting people out of unemployment

20.11.2014 – Article

On 16 October 2014 the Swiss ambassador and the chairman of the board of ALTUM (the State Joint Stock Company Latvian Development Financial Institution, previously Hipotēku Banka) paid a celebratory visit to the POGA kindergarten – the recipient of their 1,000th microcredit. The Swiss-Latvian microcredit programme makes it easier for small businesses and self-employed people to get access to loans. The programme has clearly outstripped its initial aim of making 650 credits available for the creation of 900 jobs.

Microlending programme in Latvia exceeds its targets

07.11.2013 – Article
The unemployment ratio in Latvia rose dramatically as a result of the world’s economic and financial crises. The microlending programme makes it easier for micro enterprises and the self-employed to obtain business loans. The aim of the project was to award around 650 microcredits and thus create up to 900 new jobs. 2013 these targets are exceeded: Already 800 microcredits are allocated and approximately 2,000 jobs have been retained or created thanks to the microlending programme.

Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter to visit the Baltic countries to deepen bilateral relations and discuss relations with the European Union

29.07.2013 – Press releases
From 29 July to 1 August, Mr Burkhalter, the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), will pay an official working visit to Lithuania and then to Latvia. He will make the traditional 1 August speech to mark Switzerland's national day in Riga. The main aims of this official working visit are to deepen bilateral relations, to discuss the importance of relations between Switzerland and the European Union (EU) and to present Switzerland's priorities for its chairmanship of the OSCE in 2014. Mr Burkhalter will also visit a number of projects that are part of the Swiss enlargement contribution. This contribution is a key element in the bilateral relationships between Switzerland and each of these two countries.

Switzerland

31.05.2013 – Press releases
More than 200 projects are now being implemented as part of the enlargement contribution. At the annual conference of Swiss Cooperation with Eastern Europe on 31 May 2013 in Bern, government representatives and experts from Switzerland and abroad discussed the importance and the impact of these projects. About 750 people took part in the annual conference in the Hotel National, an exceptionally high turnout.

Official visit by Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs

21.03.2013 – Press releases
On 21st March 2013, Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), received his Latvian counterpart Edgars Rinkēvičs for an official working visit. In addition to bilateral relations, the talks in Bern covered the European policy of both countries, aspects of multilateral cooperation, and current international issues.

Switzerland’s Enlargement Contribution to Latvia fully committed

05.03.2012 – Article

The signing of the last project agreement in the frame of the Swiss Enlargement Contribution to Latvia took place in Riga on 1 February 2012. This event means that the entire amount of the CHF 60 million of Switzerland’s Enlargement Contribution earmarked for Latvia has now been fully committed.

The Swiss contribution in brief

Information on Switzerland’s contribution to the enlarged EU: a brief presentation including project examples.

Latvia: The power of microcredit