No "Alpine Singapore" SP Co-President Wermuth: "Switzerland of 12 million is feasible"

SP Co-President Cédric Wermuth is not afraid of immigration from an infrastructure perspective. "12 million people in Switzerland? That's not a wish of mine, but it's feasible."

In an interview with the Tamedia newspapers, Wermuth mentioned the prosperity that immigration brings and criticized the fact that Switzerland would become an "Alpine Singapore" if the bourgeoisie had their way: "low taxes and hardly any social, equality or ecological rules for companies".

He wanted to support the EU package if it was right as an overall package. It is crucial that public services and wages are sufficiently protected. According to Wermuth, business associations, employers and bourgeois parties are trying to "push through their liberalization agenda".

At the same time, he warned that some political players were deliberately working towards the failure of the package and showed little willingness to engage in serious negotiations. "We must defend the idea of Europe", said Wermuth, also with regard to the current security policy challenges.

Negotiations between the EU and Switzerland well advanced

Negotiations between Switzerland and the EU are well advanced in most areas of the package. This was stated by Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and the Vice President of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic, at a working meeting at the Lohn country residence in Kehrsatz near Bern on Wednesday evening.

As far as the substantive conclusion of the negotiations is concerned, they are aiming for one by the end of the year, provided that the content is of a satisfactory quality.

The Swiss and EU delegations have held more than 170 negotiating sessions since March under the leadership of chief negotiators Patric Franzen and Richard Szostak. According to the communiqué, these efforts demonstrate the will of Switzerland and the EU to stabilize and further develop the bilateral path in the long term.

SDA