 The Swiss Federal Council, which was in favour of EU membership, had advised the population to vote against this referendum, since the preconditions for the opening of negotiations had not been met.The Swiss federal government has recently undergone several substantial U-turns in policy, however, concerning specific agreements with the EU on freedom of movement for workers and areas concerning tax evasion have been addressed within the Swiss banking system.This was a result of the first Switzerland–EU summit in May 2004 where nine bilateral agreements were signed.