Switzerland’s special status as a quasi-member state enjoying many privileges of European integration without bearing the political costs of membership has certainly inspired Brexit debates. Yet, by the time of Brexit, Switzerland’s unique model of association had increasingly come under strain – and what started as a ‘side-street’ to European integration had turned into a ‘dead-end’.

Adamant of their national sovereignty and preferring trade liberalisation over political unification, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (UK) share many parallels in their relations to the European Union (EU). This also includes their ambivalent attitude towards freedom of movement which, at different points, has proved a stumbling block. Whereas the UK has opted for joining the EU, Switzerland has remained in the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) and has negotiated a unique set of bilateral agreements granting considerable access to the single market. It did not come as a surprise when in the context of Brexit, ‘leave’ proponents put forward the Swiss model as a way to reap the economic benefits while avoiding sovereignty losses of integration. What this debate failed to recognise, however, is that de facto Switzerland is subject to considerable sections of EU law – without participating in its development. Furthermore, the references to Switzerland failed to realise that the Swiss model of bilateral agreements increasingly stood under pressure both from within and from without. This chapter examines the connections between the Swiss model of European integration and Brexit in two steps. We start by retracing the trajectory of the Swiss model before turning to its relevance in the Brexit debates, on the one hand, and the reverberation of Brexit on Swiss-EU relations, on the other hand.