Swiss president says deal with EU possible this year despite immigration hurdle
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Swiss president says deal with EU possible this year despite immigration hurdle
The Swiss president voiced optimism on Monday that a deal with the European Union could still be reached by year-end on updating their relationship, despite a lack of agreement on issues like immigration.
“We have already made very good progress in certain areas, particularly on institutional issues and state aid,” Viola Amherd told reporters in Bern. “In other areas, especially immigration, positions need to converge further.”
Amherd has previously said that Switzerland is looking to wrap up a deal with the EU this year, when her one-year term also comes to an end. “Personally, I remain optimistic that we will manage,” she added.
Previous attempts to reach a deal foundered over concerns about Swiss sovereignty. One of the remaining challenges is domestic opposition from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, and Amherd admitted talks with them were “almost impossible”.
“We have other possibilities inside Switzerland to guarantee that we don’t want to reduce salaries and that we don’t want immigration without control. I am persuaded we will find a solution,” she said.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Most Read Swiss Abroad
More
Switzerland’s priciest street makes room for a bakery shop
Should raw milk sales be banned or should consumers decide?
Swiss food regulations do not allow raw milk to be sold for direct consumption. However, a loophole allows 400 raw milk vending machines to do just that.
Swiss president backs lifting re-export ban on arms to Ukraine
This content was published on
Switzerland’s president says she is in favour of revising a ban that currently prevents Swiss-made arms from being re-exported from another country to Ukraine.
This content was published on
In 2022, GDP in Switzerland increased by 3% at the previous year's prices. The main drivers were the manufacturing industry and the energy sector.
Aid organisation recovered 6,500 tonnes of food in 2023
This content was published on
Last year the aid organisation Schweizer Tafel (Swiss table) saved 6,500 tonnes of perfectly good food from being destroyed.
Head of Swiss financial watchdog wants more support from politicians
This content was published on
In the wake of the collapse of Credit Suisse, Stefan Walter, director of FINMA, continues to insist on more expertise and more staff for the banking supervisory authority.
Dementia ‘superspreader’ detected by Swiss researchers
This content was published on
Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) have gained new insights into the spread of dementia diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Most illegal entries to Germany in 2024 came via Switzerland
This content was published on
The German Federal Police detected 53,410 illegal entry attempts into Germany in the first nine months of this year. Most refusals to entry occurred at the borders with Switzerland, it was reported on Sunday.
Swiss government faces criticism over inclusion of electronic media in radio-TV law
This content was published on
Changes to Switzerland's Federal Radio and Television Act (RTVA) have been well received in a consultation process. Local and regional radio and TV stations should receive more money in the future.
Swiss ultra-conservative party hands in signatures against Eurovision 2025
This content was published on
The Swiss Federal Democratic Union (EDU) has handed in referendum signatures to seek a vote to prevent the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) from taking place in Basel from May 13 to 17, 2025.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.