Swiss president says deal with EU possible this year despite immigration hurdle
Vila Amherd has previously said that Switzerland is looking to wrap up a deal with the EU this year.
Keystone
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
The citizenship obstacle course facing spouses of Swiss Abroad
This content was published on
The Ethos Foundation recommends that shareholders vote against all compensation-related items at the Annual General Meeting on March 7.
Top Swiss firms close to reaching gender quota in boards
This content was published on
The proportion of women on the boards of directors of the fifty largest listed companies in Switzerland currently stands at 28%.
Swiss committee wants to end government resignations during legislative term
This content was published on
Members of the Federal Council should no longer be able to leave office before the end of their term, according to a House of Representatives committee.
Swiss government seat: Ritter and Pfister nominated to succeed Amherd
This content was published on
Markus Ritter from St Gallen and Martin Pfister from Zug were officially nominated by the Centre Party on Friday to succeed Defence Minister Viola Amherd.
Top Swiss court rejects Russian request for administrative tax assistance
This content was published on
There is currently no reason to transmit banking information to the Russian Federation, the Swiss Federal Court has ruled.
After strike by radiologists, doctors demonstrate in Bern
This content was published on
Following a strike by radiology technicians in Fribourg, doctors, vets, dentists and chiropractors expressed their frustration on Friday outside parliament in the Swiss capital.
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.