Switzerland's big deal with the EU: Switzerland is now as close to Europe as it can get without a full EU membership. Swiss president Joseph Deiss shares his views on the latest developments on the international and the domestic front.

Swiss News › Nbr. 2004, May 2004

Author: Heddema, Renske

Position:: Politics

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Politics

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Switzerland's big deal with the EU: Switzerland is now as close to Europe as it can get without a full EU membership. Swiss president Joseph Deiss shares his views on the latest developments on the international and the domestic front.

On May 19 this year, two years of forceful negotiations between the European Union (EU) and Switzerland were officially wrapped up in Brussels. The EU consented to guarantee Swiss banking secrecy in exchange for Bern's cooperation in allowing it to tax EU residents' savings in Swiss banks. This arrangement has brought Switzerland and EU closer to each other without the country actually joining the Union.

Hence, though locally, Swiss President Joseph Deiss lost some support in the recent referenda, on the international front, he has booked positive results. Saving...

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