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After the Swiss chief negotiator accused the EU of delays, critical voices are now coming from Parliament. The attack in the direction of Brussels is an unworthy game, even a distraction. What exactly the Federal Council intends to do remains unclear.
The discussion about the bilateral agreements with the EU has stalled since the failed negotiations on the framework agreement last year. In an NZZ interview on Tuesday, Livia Leu, Switzerland’s chief negotiator, accuses the EU of operating with delays and “pressure politics”.
“The EU has delayed the dates several times,” says Leu in an interim assessment of the exploratory talks, in which the field for future negotiations is to be marked out. These statements cause criticism from federal Berne.
Leu’s credibility questioned
Jürg Grossen, President of the Green Liberals, considers it “not appropriate that such things, if you have problems in a negotiation, are explained in an interview and communicated to the outside world”. He cannot judge whether the negotiations should now be continued by someone else, but: “I think that our chief negotiator is questioning her credibility.”
FDP National Councilor Hanspeter Portmann is also critical. He speaks of Livia Leu’s massive allegations to Brussels of an unworthy game. “If you are interested in a solution, then you don’t do it that way unless you want to delay the negotiations.”
After eight years of negotiations, we no longer have to probe.
In the end, however, Livia Leu has to be responsible for her position in Brussels, says Portmann. However, he would have much preferred to hear in which areas Switzerland is finally ready to offer concrete solutions. “After eight years of negotiations, we no longer have to probe,” said the FDP National Council.
Intentions of the Federal Council unclear
For SP foreign politician Fabian Molina, Livia Leu did not make herself impossible with the interview as Swiss chief negotiator. “The EU is negotiating with whomever.” Switzerland uses its negotiator.
Rather, Molina believes that Leu wanted to distract Brussels from her boss, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, by making the allegations against Brussels. “She’s trying to explain why things aren’t moving forward and she’s hiding the fact that it’s the Federal Council itself that doesn’t want to move forward,” says Molina
We only have fragmentary information and it is difficult to form an opinion.
But what the Federal Council really wants, no one knows, says Central Councilor Pirmin Bischof. “We only have fragmentary information, and that’s difficult to form an opinion.”
He therefore expects the Federal Council to act quickly. “And nothing can change the fact that next year is an election year. An election year not only for Parliament, but also for the members of the Federal Council.”
So the accusation turns into its opposite. The problem is not Brussels, but above all Federal Councilor Cassis, who does not want to move forward because he is already looking forward to his re-election in a year.