EU membership is only solution to achieve Swiss goals, says former minister

Former Swiss government minister Joseph Deiss says future membership of the European Union is the only way for Switzerland to achieve its European goals. Switzerland must negotiate hard with Brussels, but at the moment it is basically going from one makeshift solution to the next, he declared in an interview published in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) on Tuesday. The former government minister remains a strong advocate of Switzerland joining the EU. “Accession is the only way to reach the goal with Europe,” Deiss said. + Switzerland and EU want to negotiate, but optimism is limited Joining the EU would not mean political suicide, contrary to the prevailing opinion, but a gain in sovereignty, he said. Fears did not materialise The former foreign minister described some aspects of Switzerland's current European policy as “hair-raising". Regarding the free movement of people, it is “perfidious” that problems which could arise from asylum migration are being conflated with the volume ...