Foreign minister confirms Swiss willingness to reach EU deal

All smiles: Ignazio Cassis (left) and Maros Sefcovic in Brussels on Tuesday, where they discussed the progress made at the technical and diplomatic level Keystone / Julien Warnand

Switzerland wants to bring the talks with the European Union to a successful conclusion, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said on Tuesday at a meeting in Brussels with Maros Sefcovic, the European Commissioner in charge of Swiss-EU relations.

The foreign ministry said in a statementExternal link that the meeting provided an opportunity to take stock of the exploratory talks between Switzerland and the EU.

The two politicians also discussed the progress made at the technical and diplomatic level as well as “the outstanding issues and the efforts required to resolve them over the coming months”.

The EU has long demanded a foundational set of principles to govern political and economic ties to replace the current rambling set of bilateral deals that have been hammered out over decades. But talks on a new framework treaty broke down in 2021 when Switzerland walked away from the negotiating table.

Following a war of words, both parties have held a series of exploratory talks in an attempt to revive official negotiations.

So far, a total of ten exploratory rounds have taken place. As a result, the Swiss government adopted key parameters for the negotiating mandate at the end of June.

Commitment

Cassis and Sefcovic reaffirmed on Tuesday “their commitment to continue providing positive momentum to the process”, the foreign ministry said. They wanted to continue to exchange views on a regular basis.

For his part, Sefcovic stressed that the EU was ready to continue the “intensive talks with Switzerland”, according to the EU Commission’s communication.

The one-on-one conversation lasted about an hour. At the subsequent working lunch they were accompanied by their delegations.

The previous time Cassis and Sefcovic met in Bern was in mid-March. At that time, Sefcovic held various talks also with foreign policy experts as well as with the social partners and the cantons. Cassis was in Brussels most recently in November 2021.