Switzerland - EU EU Commissioner Sefcovic arrives in Bern with Foreign Minister Cassis

The Vice-President of the EU Commission, Maros Sefcovic, arrived at the home of Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on Wednesday evening, according to a photographer from the Keystone-SDA news agency. The two politicians want to discuss the negotiations.

"We are on the last mile", said Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis at an unrelated media event in Bern in the afternoon. It was about "a joint discussion on how the final points can be clarified".

"It is time to take political stock of our ongoing negotiations, as we continue to pursue the common goal of concluding the negotiations by the end of this year," said a spokesperson for the European Commission when asked before the meeting.

Among those attending the meeting at the Lohn estate in Wabern near Bern are the Swiss chief negotiator Patric Franzen and his counterpart, the European chief negotiator Richard Szostak. Mr. Cassis will also be accompanied by State Secretaries Alexandre Fasel, Helene Budliger Artieda and Christine Schraner-Burgener.

The meeting should actually have taken place in the summer. However, it was then canceled at short notice because the negotiating positions were apparently still too far apart.

SDA