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Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis claimed EU Commissioner Maros Sefcovic had misrepresented a meeting the pair had last week in a failed bid to restart bilateral trade talks.<\/p>\n
Mr Sefcovic told reporters after the meeting that the EU’s door remained open, but that “it takes two to tango”.<\/p>\n
He added: “What we now need from Switzerland is the unambiguous political will to engage with us on the real issues that count and a credible timetable.<\/p>\n
“In other words, any political dialogue must be focused and substantial.”<\/p>\n
Responding on Tuesday to Mr Cassis’ criticism, the EU Commissioner told Politico: “I think I was absolutely fair in describing what we discussed in our private meeting.”<\/p>\n
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The EU is demanding Switzerland shows in detail how it intends to further develop its relations with the bloc as soon as January.<\/p>\n
But Mr Cassis has already made it clear that he would hardly be able to present the EU with a concrete plan until the pair next meets in Davos for the World Economic Forum.<\/p>\n
Brussels has been pushing for a decade for a treaty that would sit atop a patchwork of bilateral accords and have the Swiss routinely adopt changes to single market rules.<\/p>\n
It would also have provided a more effective way to resolve disputes.<\/p>\n
The European Union wants Switzerland to agree to dynamic alignment of its laws with EU law, a level-playing field, a mechanism to settle disputes and regular contributions to EU funds for poorer EU members.<\/p>\n
One of the earlier impacts of the negotiation impasse has been on Swiss scientists’ participation in the Horizon Europe, the world’s largest research and innovation funding programmes with a budget of 95 billion euros.<\/p>\n
Mr Sefcovic said Swiss researchers and institutions could continue to participate, but they would not be able to access EU taxpayers’ money until other issues are resolved.<\/p>\n
DON’T MISS:<\/strong> The Swiss government aims to deploy transitional measures to make up for the funding shortfalls.<\/p>\n In May, Switzerland walked out of talks to replace its bilateral agreement with an overarching framework agreement with Brussels to manage their relationship.<\/p>\n Bern said the pact threatened its sovereignty and ability to protect its labour market.<\/p>\n The move was branded by some as Switzerland’s “Brexit moment”.<\/p>\n Switzerland has never been an EU member and rejected joining the European Economic Area in a referendum in 1992.<\/p>\n But it has enjoyed almost full access to the EU’s single market through a series of 120 bilateral agreements and is a member of the bloc’s Schengen passport-free travel area.<\/p>\n The country has also been largely aligned with Brussels on a vast array of economic and legal matters.<\/p>\n
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