After four years of hard-fought negotiations, Switzerland has shrugged off a deadline for a treaty with the EU. It is concerned that freedom of movement requirements will flood the wealthy country with low-wage labor.
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Switzerland stalled on a key trade and border deal with the European Union on Friday, ignoring a final deadline on the hard-fought agreement.
The EU had hoped to sign the deal by December, but Switzerland has now backtracked and wants to push back further negotiation until the spring of 2019.
What the deal is: The deal is meant to provide a framework for the 120 bilateral accords the non-EU member holds with the bloc. The draft text focuses on five areas: free movement of people, aviation, land transport, mutual recognition of industrial standards and processed farm goods. Under the treaty, the Swiss would routinely adopt EU single market rules and provide a more effective system for resolving disputes. The deal has been negotiated over the past four years and Friday was the deadline to sign.
Why Switzerland won't sign: The Swiss said they have ongoing concerns about the deal. Unresolved issues mainly relate to protecting the Swiss labor market against cheap foreign labor. The deal has faced pressure from the nationalist People's Party and from trade unions, which are both worried the deal could lower Switzerland's high wage levels and grant EU citizens additional welfare rights in Switzerland.
What the EU says: "We would like to make crystal clear that the final agreement text published today, including annex and protocols, was agreed by the EU and Swiss negotiators and is the result of long, intense and constructive negotiations," the EU executive body said. The European Commission said it "respects the will of the Federal Council to consult all the parties concerned" but called for "speedy" negotiations. It said the draft treaty was the best deal possible.
What now: Brussels has warned it will take a hard line on economic links unless Bern agrees to its major demands. The EU has threatened to not renew the "equivalence" status of the Swiss stock exchange, which allows EU-based trading platforms to buy and sell Swiss stocks. This would give the Swiss exchange a huge hit from trade volume losses. In retaliation, Switzerland has warned it will withdraw aid from eastern Europe and has made moves to bolster its exchanges. Apart from such moves, if talks fail, the current sectoral accords will stay in effect but relations would suffer badly and there will be no increase in Swiss access to the single market.
The Brexit curveball: The talks have been complicated by the EU's negotiations on Brexit, with the Commission wary of going easy on the Swiss for fear of providing ammunition to Brexiteers. Meanwhile, many Swiss are happy to wait and see what sort of deal the British can extract for themselves out of the EU.
aw/sms (dpa, AFP, Reuters)
Happy Birthday, Switzerland
Fireworks, folklore and flags: August 1 is Switzerland's national holiday. The small country will be celebrating with songs and symbols. From Heidi to alphorns: we show you what makes Switzerland so special.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Gerten
The mountain calls
The Swiss and their mountains: picture postcard scenery and a hiker's paradise with cows, meadows and pastures. Switzerland boasts 48 four-thousand-meter peaks and 1161 that hit the three thousand mark. Whether it's the Jungfrau, Mönch or Eiger, if you visit Switzerland, you simply must scale the heights. Then there's the Matterhorn: 4478 meters and world's most photographed mountain.
Image: picture-alliance/Flowerphotos/M. Peuckert
Higher, faster, farther
"Uffe" means "upwards" in Swiss German, and that's where cogwheel railways, funiculars and chair lifts take you. There are more than 1800 mountain railways in this small country, among them famous ones like the Glacier Express from Zermatt to St. Moritz - one of the loveliest rail routes in the world. "The world's slowest express train" has had UNESCO World Heritage status since 2008.
Image: swiss-image.ch/Jeroen Seyffer
Of cows and bells
The cow is effectively Switzerland's heraldic animal. From cow beauty contests to cow trekking to cow carving, the national animal is ubiquitous. And, of course, no one is allowed to hurt a cow. A court decided after hearing complaints that loud cowbells could not be classified as harmful to health - at least, during the day.
Image: picture-alliance/H. Lade Fotoagentur GmbH
Meltingly marvelous
Show dairies that demonstrate cheese-making, cheese hikes and cheese workshops: Switzerland is a cheese country. The Swiss eat nearly 20,000 tons a year. And of course they hold the record in fondue-eating. Appenzeller is one of more than 450 varieties of cheese here. Its recipe remains a secret to this day, even though people have often tried to discover the source of its unique flavor.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Keystone/P. Klaunzer
Alpine sounds
Once mocked as the shepherds' begging horn, the alphorn is now a national Swiss symbol. The long wooden horn can produce sounds that are audible up to 10 kilometers away. The instruments come to the fore every year at the International Alphorn Festival in Nendaz, and they have even been played at the Eurovision Song Contest. The world's longest alphorn, by the way, is 47 meters in length.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/V. Pinauda
Good-natured and friendly
The best-known dogs in the Alps are the Saint Bernards, the avalanche-detecting dogs with kegs of brandy at their necks, bred to sniff out people buried in the snow. The absolute star among Saint Bernards is Barry. Before he died in 1814, he is said to have saved the lives of 40 people. Now Barry is on display in Bern's Natural History Museum. People come from as far as Japan to see him.
Image: iriskuerschner.com
Heidi's world
She's the typical Swiss country girl: Heidi, the maiden from the mountains whose story is known globally, from Maienfeld, Heidi's village, where you can immerse yourself in her world, to Japan and the US. Johanna Spyri's novel has sold 50 million copies. In Turkey, Heidi is one of the most popular children's books ever.
Image: picture-alliance/Arco Images GmbH/De Meester, J.
The chocolate pioneers
It's thanks to Swiss chocolate-makers that chocolate is so sweet and smooth textured. In the 18th century it was sold in pharmacies as an aphrodisiac. Others considered it to be nothing but poison. Nowadays we know better. The Swiss eat 10 kilos of it per capita every year. Only the Germans eat more chocolate.
Image: picture-alliance/Arco Images/J. Kruse
As accurate as Swiss clockwork
Swiss watchmakers, with their magnifying glasses and fine-pointed tweezers, have been making a name for themselves worldwide since the 16th century - from magnificent table clocks for the nobility to chic watches for everyone. The center of the watchmaking industry lies in the middle of the Jura Mountains in towns such as La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle and Biel/Bienne.
First produced in 1897 as an officers' pocket knife, the Swiss Army Knife is now even available in pink and can include a USB stick. NASA astronauts swear by the small multi-tool. The Victorinox company in Ibach makes 6 million of them annually. Here you can even create your very own knife when visiting its museum.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kembowski
Country of tunnels
There are more than 1300 tunnels in Switzerland. Laid end to end, they would cover the distance between Denmark and Sicily. It's no surprise that the Swiss are world champions when it comes to tunnel building. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is 57 kilometers in length, the longest railway tunnel in the world. You can even take a guided tour of this spectacular structure.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/U. Flueeler
Not just one Switzerland
In the 19th century the beauty of Switzerland led to émigrés giving its name to landscapes that reminded them of it, and to the adoption of the term elsewhere. The Saxon Switzerland in Germany (pictured) and Little Switzerland in the US are just two examples. Nowadays almost 200 regions and places worldwide bear the title "Switzerland."
