ZURICH: A referendum in Switzerland to clarify the country’s relationship with the European Union would be helpful, Swiss President Doris Leuthard said, after ties between the two sides cooled last week.
Talks on securing a new “framework” treaty to govern the Swiss-EU relationship have been underway for some time, with Brussels wanting to replace the more than 100 bilateral accords which regulate its relationship with Bern. But relations soured this week when the EU granted Swiss stock exchanges only limited access to the bloc, prompting Swiss threats of retaliation for what it called discrimination.
”The bilateral path is important,“ Leuthard told Swiss newspapers Sonntags Blick. ”We therefore have to clarify our relationship with Europe. We have to know in which direction to go.
“Therefore a fundamental referendum would be helpful.”
Talks on the an all-encompassing agreement made headway last month after Switzerland agreed to increase its contribution to the EU’s budget.
Such a deal would ensure Switzerland adopts relevant EU laws in return for enhanced access to the bloc’s single market, crucial for Swiss exports. But a deal would be opposed by the anti-EU Swiss People’s Party (SVP), currently the biggest group in parliament.
“Of course, the differences with Brussels are now in focus. Here our attitude is clear for the EU to link such a technical thing like stock exchange equivalency with a political question like the framework treaty, that is not possible,”
