Approach: Cassis and EU Commissioner Sefcovic enthusiastic about joint talks After Australia, now Thailand: Highly radioactive cylinder disappeared from power plant

Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis spoke positively on Wednesday evening about a meeting with the Vice-President of the EU Commission in Bern. Maros Sefcovic was also optimistic about relations between Switzerland and the EU.

The exchange of views with Sefcovic was an excellent opportunity to experience the positive dynamics between Switzerland and the European Union, Cassis tweeted late in the evening after the official working visit of the Vice-President of the EU Commission in the old center of Bern.

The EU Commissioner gave a speech at the University of Freiburg in the afternoon. There he made it clear that a balance had to be urgently struck between the interests of Brussels and Bern in order to “unleash the full potential of this cooperation”, as he said. Relations between Switzerland and the EU must be up to date.

“The doors of the EU were always open to Switzerland,” Sefcovic said. The status quo is not an option and relations between Switzerland and the EU must move with the times, he said.

Goal: to conclude the negotiations by the summer of 2024

The EU Commissioner’s two-day visit to Switzerland and in particular the meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening with Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis is intended to allow an inventory of the current round of exploratory talks. For the Slovak, the goal is “to conclude the negotiations by the summer of 2024”.

According to Bern and Brussels, the talks will only be an “exchange of views”.

On Thursday, Sefcovic will meet members of the foreign affairs committees of the federal parliament, as well as representatives of the social partners and the conference of cantonal governments.

Sefcovic leads the Commission’s work on the European Union’s relations with non-EU countries, including Switzerland, and in particular oversees ongoing discussions on the future relationship between Switzerland and the EU since the termination of the institutional framework agreement in May 2021. (sda)