Cassis said ‘the EU was only granted what was necessary’
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After negotiating hard on the package deal with the European Union and finding a balance, Switzerland gave the EU only what was needed, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said on Saturday.
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Speaking to delegates of the centre-right Radical-Liberal Party, he said Switzerland had agreed to an effective safeguard clause on immigration, no involvement in EU agricultural policy and full participation in research programmes, among other things.
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Alternatives to the EU treaty package were on the table, Cassis said. “They are not convincing. The European Economic Area (EEA) has no chance at the ballot box. A purely free trade relationship, like the one with the UK, would be a step backwards economically. Suffice it to say that today the UK is trying to re-enter the single market, he said.
“Standing still would be the worst thing. Uncertainty is poison for the economy,’ Cassis said. The bilateral path must be kept active. Switzerland needs stability and reliability. Especially at a time when many things are faltering, he said.
Translated from Italian by DeepL/ts
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