EU Business School professor Philippe G Nell is receiving praise for his recent book, Switzerland and the European Community: at the heart of the negotiations on the European Economic Area (EEA) [Suisse-Communauté Européenne: au coeur des négociations sur l’Espace économique européen]. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Professor Nell acted for Switzerland as Secretary of the EEA High-Level Negotiating Group. Nell took fully part in this four-year process working closely with State Secretary Franz Blankart, the Head of the Integration Office, Ambassador Jakob Kellenberger and Federal Councilor Jean-Pascal Delamuraz.
With the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the EEA Agreement (May 2, 1992) and the historic refusal by the Swiss people to join the EEA (December 6, 1992), Nell was asked by the Director of the Foundation Jean Monnet for Europe, Patrick Piffaretti, to write a book retracing his experience for the Foundation. As Piffaretti put it, “you were everywhere in the negotiations, you are the only one who can do it.”
Because of Professor Nell’s unique insight into these historic events, he brings the reader into the meeting rooms, in face-to-face talks between EU Commission President Jacques Delors and Federal Councilor J.-P. Delamuraz and highlights the challenges facing all the parties, the Swiss in particular.
Today, Professor Nell holds the diplomatic title of Minister, heading Swiss trade and investment relations with the Americas for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in Bern. He has been a professor at EU Business School since 2000. The book can be ordered at secr@fjme.unil.ch