EU, Swiss hail 'historic' new deal resetting relations

EU and Switzerland announce historic agreement to reset relations, but opposition mounts ahead of referendum.

BERN:

The European Union and Switzerland announced Friday a new set of agreements aimed at recalibrating relations between the two neighbours after years of often arduous negotiations.

However, the deal has already been denounced by Switzerland's hard-right main party, while its trade unions also have serious reservations.

And Swiss voters will have the final say in a referendum.

The agreement is a bid to stabilise ties between the Alpine nation and the surrounding EU bloc, currently tangled up in more than 120 separate agreements.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called the agreement "historic".

"This marks the beginning of a long-lasting cooperation," she said in Bern, unveiling the reset alongside Switzerland's President Viola Amherd.

Amherd called the deal a "milestone for the stabilisation and further development" of relations.

"This is in the interests of Switzerland's and the EU's population, our economies, employees, consumers, students and researchers."

Friday's conclusion of negotiations is just the first step in refreshing relations between Switzerland and its biggest trading partner.

On the EU side, the European Council must approve the agreement -- in theory unanimously by the 27 member states.

The Swiss government wants to formally rubber stamp the agreement in the first quarter of 2025, submit it to parliament in early 2026, and then to the Swiss people at the ballot box, probably in 2027.

The hard-right Swiss People's Party (SVP), the country's biggest party, is fiercely opposed to any rapprochement with the EU.