BERLIN – The European Union’s relationship with Switzerland could fall apart if negotiations over Switzerland’s place in the EU internal market fail, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic, told Der Spiegel magazine.
Brussels has pushed for years for a treaty to cap an array of bilateral accords and require the Swiss to routinely adopt changes to single market rules, according to Reuters.
Talks between Bern and its biggest trading partner broke off in May over concerns about yielding too much sovereignty to the bloc.
“Should new negotiations not lead to success, the bilateral agreements that were still in force would gradually expire and make our relationship obsolete at some point,” said Sefcovic, who oversees EU-Swiss affairs, in an interview published on Tuesday.
Switzerland would have to give assurances it would abide by EU internal market rules if Bern is committed to new negotiations, Sefcovic said.
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