Relationship dossier
Austria
Switzerland
Relationship assessment
Austria and Switzerland sustain practical cooperation through bilateral tax and cross-border police arrangements.
Austria toward Switzerland
+45Austria has cooperated with Switzerland through bilateral tax arrangements, including an agreement on withholding taxes, and arrangements for cross-border police cooperation.
Switzerland toward Austria
+45Switzerland has cooperated with Austria through bilateral tax arrangements, including an agreement on withholding taxes, and arrangements for cross-border police cooperation.
Overall relationship
+45The bilateral relationship is grounded in durable practical cooperation, including tax agreements and cross-border police arrangements. Austria’s EU membership and Switzerland’s separate relationship with the EU shape the institutional setting, while bilateral mechanisms enable cooperation outside shared EU membership.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Austria and Switzerland maintain a substantially cooperative bilateral relationship, supported by practical arrangements on taxation and cross-border police cooperation. Austria’s EU membership and Switzerland’s non-membership create a distinct institutional context, but bilateral agreements provide mechanisms for cooperation. The relationship is not equivalent to participation in the same EU structures.
Key developments
Austria and Switzerland concluded a bilateral agreement on withholding taxes.
Austria and Switzerland established arrangements for cross-border police cooperation.
Major uncertainties
- The extent and current implementation of bilateral police-cooperation arrangements are unclear.
- The practical effects of later tax-information exchange arrangements are unclear.