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Juncker accuses Switzerland of not keeping its promises

jean claude juncker
EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker: a friend of Switzerland. Keystone

The president of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, has criticised the Swiss government amid the ongoing framework agreement and stock market access row.

In a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, the Luxembourger held Switzerland accountable for the deterioration of EU-Swiss bilateral relations.

In a response to questions from SRF correspondent Sebastian Ramspeck, he said that the much-debated institutional framework agreement “had been repeatedly promised” to him but had unfortunately still “not been achieved”.

+ More on the potential institutional framework agreement

+ How the EU has hit Switzerland with limited stock market access

Juncker also said that he had met with the Swiss president eight times already since he took office, but had come to the conclusion that the government presented him to the public in a very unfavourable light which in no way corresponded to the reality.

He further said that he found that any Swiss citizens he met on his holidays had a “very bleak picture of the depth of my personality”. Nevertheless, Juncker remains a friend of Switzerland, he said.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR