Ministers discuss Swiss-EU deal with Italy and Hungary

Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis received his Hungarian counterpart, Péter Szijjarto, in Bern on May 5. Keystone-SDA

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis held talks on Monday with their respective counterparts from Italy and Hungary. The new Swiss-EU deal, which still has to be approved by the 27 European Union member states, was a key talking point at both meetings.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Switzerland stressed the “close ties” with Italy and Hungary and the “solid basis” of the package of agreements with the EU at the end of their meetings on Monday.

Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency role this year, met Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Rome. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis received his Hungarian counterpart, Péter Szijjarto, in Bern.

On Wednesday Economics Minister Guy Parmelin will travel to Bulgaria, another EU member state, to meet Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and Prime Minister Rosen Jeliazkov.

‘No advantage in refusing agreements’

The package of agreements between Switzerland and the EU, which was successfully negotiated in December, still has to be validated by the European Council, which brings together the ministers of the 27 member states, and by the Swiss Parliament.

According to Carlo Sommaruga, a Swiss member of the Switzerland-EU parliamentary friendship group, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria have no advantage in rejecting these agreements.

“However, it is to be hoped that these texts will not be used as a tool in institutional conflicts within the EU,” he told the Keystone-ATS news agency. Hungary is currently at odds with the EU on a number of points.

Sommaruga said it was appropriate for the Swiss government ministers to travel abroad to meet foreign officials to ensure that the deal is concluded.

Earlier this year, the European Commission withdrew planned EU aid to Hungary because of violations of the rule of law. Switzerland, on the other hand, has decided to maintain its contribution to cohesion. Around CHF87.6 million ($106.3 million) has been earmarked for Hungary until the end of 2029.

Translated from French by DeepL/sb

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

Did you find this explanation helpful? Please fill out the short survey below to help us understand your needs.