EU Less Inclined to Concessions Post Brexit, Swiss Minister Says

(Bloomberg) -- The European Union has toughened its stance toward Switzerland and is less likely to give it special treatment in light of Britain’s decision to leave, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said.

“The fact is that the European Union’s stance toward us is more compact and more self confident -- the Brexit crisis has closed the ranks and we have a partner who is less willing to make concessions than previously,” the Swiss minister said on Wednesday in his first major address since taking office. “Not because Switzerland is less likable than before, but because other countries also have expectations.”

The EU is Switzerland’s biggest trading partner, and relations with the bloc are governed by a set of treaties covering matters ranging from the free movement of persons to civil aviation. The two have been in talks for years about streamlining relations via a so-called institutional framework agreement, though the atmosphere soured in December when Brussels decided to grant the Swiss stock market equivalence for only one year.

Negotiations between the U.K. and the EU on their future relationship are scheduled to begin in April. The EU has said there can be no easy access to the bloc’s single market for U.K. financial companies because that would be tantamount to allowing the U.K. to “cherry pick” the best aspects of EU membership.

In Bern, the government said it would examine in what areas Switzerland should seek additional market access or cooperation agreements, and appointed Roberto Balzaretti to head take over coordinating negotiations with EU.

Cassis said there is a “window” for the two sides to conduct talks this year before the 2019 election year -- both in the EU and in Switzerland -- when “hardly anything will happen.”

Still, a spring agreement, as suggested by the EU in November, is “out of the question,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Bosley in Zurich at cbosley1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Zoe Schneeweiss, Andrew Atkinson

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