After the meeting, EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic reiterated that the EU was ready to continue negotiating a framework agreement, and that a failure to come to some arrangement soon would lead to an “erosion” of bilateral relations.
The summit came two weeks after Swiss President Guy Parmelin went to Brussels to meet Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, a meeting that largely failed to clear up blockages in bilateral relations.
The 120-odd bilateral deals currently between the EU and Switzerland (which is not part of the EU) are getting “old”, as Sefcovic put it, and the apparent goal of both sides is to regulate relations through an overarching framework agreement.
As for the various EU member states, while “all” underlined the importance of good relations with Switzerland on Tuesday, according to Portuguese minister Ana Paula Zacarias, the immediate neighbours of the Alpine nation were most vocal.
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Swiss-EU talks stall due to ‘substantial differences’
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Talks on future ties between Switzerland and the European Union have once again hit a dead end, after key meeting fails to end a negotiation impasse.
German minister Michael Roth, for example, told Swiss public television SRF that while relations with Switzerland were extremely important, “whoever wants to benefit from the single market must also play by its rules”.
French minister Clément Beaune also spoke about the importance of “protecting the [EU] single market”. He said that while Europe was open for discussions, the ball was in the court of “our Swiss friends” to say whether and when the current draft deal can be signed.
Beaune said he couldn’t envisage any new option that breaks out of the framework already negotiated.
Cantonal input
Also on Tuesday, Switzerland’s 26 cantons, through the voice of the Conference of Cantonal governments, added their position to the EU debate with a statement that warned against signing off on the framework deal “at any price”.
The body, which represents the position of Switzerland’s (largely autonomous) regions, said that the three sticking points in the deal – state aid, citizenship, and labour market access rules – should be resolved in Switzerland’s interest.
Switzerland has already made “important concessions” in these areas, the cantons said.
And yet, they said, summing things up nicely, the positions of the EU and Switzerland on these areas seem quite far apart.
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Swiss blame EU for impasse on framework deal
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The Swiss government says it will not agree an overarching accord with the European Union if Brussels is not willing to compromise on open issues.
Swiss regulator criticises banks for being lax with mortgages
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Switzerland's financial watchdog has condemned a tendency for banks to apply less stringent internal guidelines for granting mortgage loans.
Uber drivers subject to the law on services in Geneva
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The Federal Court has ruled against a Geneva-based company, a partner of Uber, which challenged its liability under the law on the hiring of services.
Swiss nuclear power plants are not at risk from flooding
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According to an inspection by the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate, the safety-relevant buildings of the Swiss nuclear power plants are not at risk.
Swiss Fairtrade label breaks billion franc barrier in sales
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Products with the Fairtrade Max Havelaar label generated sales of more than CHF1 billion in Switzerland for the first time last year.
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Poll finds most Swiss back framework deal with EU
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The survey conducted by the research institute gfs.bern found that 64% of 2,000 people questioned were in favour of a comprehensive deal with the EU. About a third were opposed (32%). “This shows the considerable potential of the institutional agreement at the ballot box, i.e. two thirds of voters,” says René Buholzer, director of the umbrella organisation…
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A framework deal between the EU and Switzerland to update bilateral agreements is in danger of failing after seven years of negotiations.
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