Cassis discusses the final steps in negotiations with Sefcovic
Published: Saturday, Dec 14th 2024, 16:50
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Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis has discussed "the final steps" of the ongoing negotiations with EU Commissioner Maros Sefcovic. The two politicians spoke on the phone on Saturday.
The conversation was "valuable" and they took stock of the progress made in the negotiations, Cassis wrote on X. In a separate post on the same platform, Sefcovic wrote of the "immense efforts of our teams" in the negotiations. They were "working hard" to strengthen relations between Switzerland and the EU. "We will stay in touch," concluded Cassis.
The negotiations are in a "delicate phase", a spokesperson for the European Commission said on Friday. Ideally, they would be concluded before the end of the year, a media spokesperson for the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) told the Keystone-SDA news agency.
Content of the discussion remains unknown
Most recently, the Swiss media reported that all issues relating to the negotiations had been clarified except for the cohesion contribution. This would have to be clarified at a political level, i.e. between Cassis and Sefcovic. Several sources confirmed this information to Keystone-SDA.
The politicians left open in their posts whether the amount of the cohesion contribution that Switzerland pays to the EU in order to gain access to the European single market was discussed during the phone call. When asked, Cassis' spokesperson did not provide any further details about the content of the discussions.
Switzerland and the EU have been in talks for almost nine months to redefine their future relations. The negotiations are expected to be concluded next week.
©Keystone/SDA
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