Brussels slams Swiss attitude to treaty impasse
The European Commission (EC) has accused Switzerland of time-wasting and of failing to take responsibility for finding a solution to finalise an institutional “framework agreement” aimed at simplifying future ties between the two sides. The damning verdict was contained in the notes of a briefing meeting between the EC and the 27 EU member states, which was leaked to Swiss public broadcasters SRF and RTS. High-ranking Swiss government ministers are due to travel to Brussels on April 23 to attempt to find a way out of the negotiation deadlock. Switzerland is not an EU member state, but relations with the 27-member bloc are governed by a patchwork of 120 bilateral accords. In 2014, Brussels demanded that the sprawling set of treaties be anchored to a set of rules known as a “framework agreement”. A draft accord was reached in 2018, but it stalled in the face of Swiss domestic criticism and has never been ratified. The EC meeting notes from Wednesday express doubts as to whether...