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So now it’s taking place, the political dialogue that Federal Councilor Iganzo Cassis wanted with the EU. The third meeting with Maros Sefcovic in Brussels is to take place behind closed doors. At least that would be the wish of the federal communications officers who have to deal with the Federal Council’s trip.
Strange that in every round of exploratory talks between Switzerland and the EU Commission, marginal progress in mutual understanding is reported, reported by the seconded state secretary.
Play for time until autumn
However, if a Federal Councilor, who is in charge of maintaining relations between Switzerland and the European Union, arrives, the public should not notice this if possible. Because there is nothing to say. This silence needs to be interpreted.
Of course, every Federal Councilor has the right to travel to Brussels incognito and hold confidential talks with representatives of the EU Commission. But Federal Councilor Cassis does not have to keep anything secret. Everyone knows that the Swiss government is playing for time with the EU, because it doesn’t want to make any decisions about Europe until the parliamentary elections in the autumn are digested.
As if that matters. In the European institutions, too, a few interested people regularly take a look at Swiss news. You know that landslide shifts in political weight rarely occur in federal elections. Not even in 2023.
Brussels mechanics understood
It is therefore important to take those responsible for communications in the Bundesrat at their word. You want to tell us that there is nothing to report about relevant developments in political and economic relations with Switzerland’s most important political and economic partner.
That’s remarkable. Because there is also an indication of how the Swiss Federal Council understands the Brussels mechanics. In the EU, ministers rarely travel to Brussels for political meetings without political intentions and without political messages. The Federal Council is obviously happy to make an exception. He even announced in a statement the day before the meeting that only old coffee would be served at lunch with the Vice President of the European Commission.
So the official message to be delivered by the Swiss Foreign Minister is that Switzerland cannot respond to the EU Commission’s wish to return relations with the EU to normal soon. The Federal Council prefers not to say that publicly. Understandable.