French-Swiss relations date back to the Middle Ages, when the Kingdom of France and the Old Swiss Confederacy established close contacts.

The good neighborly relations ended when revolutionary France invaded Switzerland and established the Helvetic Republic in 1798.

At the Congress of Vienna, Switzerland was granted small areas of French territory as compensation and Swiss independence was restored.

Conflicts between the Old Swiss Confederacy first arose in the 13th century during the Hundred Years' War, when French mercenaries who had lost their jobs during breaks in fighting invaded north-western Switzerland.

After the Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs, the Dauphin of France was impressed by the fighting power of the Confederacy and concluded a peace treaty with the Swiss.

The French kings borrowed large sums of money from the Swiss, which facilitated the emergence of Switzerland as a financial center from the 16th century onwards.

In 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte nevertheless decided to invade Switzerland, as it occupied a strategically important position north of Italy and was prosperous.

After 1815, trade disputes, the Swiss right of asylum for political refugees and French interference in Switzerland's internal affairs strained relations.

[1] A competition for influence in Switzerland developed in the late 19th century between the German Empire and France, for example in the construction of railroad lines.

The Swiss prevented a mass exodus of people persecuted by the Nazi regime from France to Switzerland through a restrictive asylum policy.

[1] In the post-war period, Franco-Swiss relations normalized after disputes such as the continued presence of French Vichy collaborators in Switzerland were resolved.

In 1981, the Socialists in France introduced a tax on wealth transfers to Switzerland and in 1998 a cooperation agreement was signed between the two countries on police, legal and customs matters.

[4] France is Switzerland's third-largest trading partner (after Germany and Italy)[3] and the two are integrated economically via Swiss treaties with the European Union.