The present article discusses the consequences of the failure of the negotiations between Switzerland and the European Union on the Institutional Agreement. It compares the current system of the Bilateral Agreements and the Institutional Agreement on the institutional issues. It focuses on the mechanisms foreseen with regard to the developments in EU law, legal interpretation, surveillance of the application of the agreements, the dispute settlement between the contracting parties as well as the termination clauses. The article also explores the consequences of the non-signature of the Institutional Agreement: the meaning of the “status quo” situation (application of the current version of the Bilateral Agreements), the consequences related to the decisions and measures taken or to be taken by the European Union after the non-signing of the Institutional Agreement by Switzerland (no update of existing market access agreements, no conclusion of future access market agreements, decisions impacting other fields of the bilateral relationship) and more generally the deterioration in the relationship between the partners. The article also examines the domestic measures envisaged by Switzerland to partially mitigate these negative effects and discusses the topics that have to be dealt with in future negotiations in order to consolidate the bilateral relationship between the European Union and Switzerland.