Swiss-EU negotiations: Cassis to meet Sefcovic in Bern

Ignazio Cassis is set to meet Maros Sefcovic (pictured) in Bern on Wednesday. Keystone-SDA

Switzerland’s negotiations with the European Union are apparently close to being concluded. Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis will meet the Vice-President of the EU Commission, Maros Sefcovic, in Bern on Wednesday.

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This was announced by the foreign ministry on X on Friday. There has been speculation about the meeting in various media over the past few days.

It is eagerly awaited as it heralds the final phase of negotiations between Switzerland and the EU.

+ Switzerland and EU want to negotiate, but optimism is limited

The meeting should actually have taken place in the summer. However, it was cancelled at short notice because the negotiating positions were apparently still too far apart.

+ The Swiss are deeply divided over relations with the EU

Next Wednesday’s talks between Cassis and Sefcovic are likely to focus in particular on the amount of the cohesion contribution. Switzerland pays this to the EU for its partial access to the European single market.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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