Swiss government resists signing EU treaty, say sources
Switzerland has to give answer to Brussels in June on draft treaty as new ice age with biggest trading partner looms
Zurich — Opposition from across the political spectrum will make it all but impossible for the Swiss government to sign a draft treaty with the EU in June, sources close to the matter said. Failure to sign the accord that Brussels has sought for a decade and which was negotiated over four years would plunge Swiss ties with its biggest trading partner into a new ice age, potentially disrupting trade and cross-border securities deals. The Swiss cabinet will likely tell Brussels that too many points remain open to clinch a treaty deal now while it battles a far-right campaign to end the free movement of EU citizens in a referendum due in 2020, the sources said. That looming battle is being billed as Switzerland’s Brexit moment. With the treaty stalled for now, the European Commission has threatened not to extend beyond mid-2019 the recognition of Swiss stock exchange rules that lets EU investors make trades in Switzerland. The Swiss medical technology sector could feel the pinch as Br...
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