Xavier bettel partners in crime

Switzerland wants a so-called safeguard clause on suspending free movement of people with the EU in certain circumstances.

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News Service Produced externally by an organization we trust to adhere to journalistic standards. EU ministers on Tuesday 15 October rejected a push by non-member Switzerland to add a clause to bilateral agreements under negotiation that would allow it to place limits on immigration from the bloc. The European Union and Switzerland want to seal an agreement to "stabilise and develop" their relations by updating and expanding a set of more than agreements by the end of the year.

Relations have been strained since Bern -- without warning -- slammed the door on the negotiations with its main trading partner in And while the talks tentatively resumed this year, Switzerland's efforts to secure an exemption to a central EU tenet -- the free movement of people between countries -- could make a deal difficult to reach.

His French counterpart Benjamin Haddad said his country backed "concluding a deal with Switzerland", but only if "the criteria of the single market and the European Union's four liberties" are respected. Janos Boka, the European affairs minister in Hungary, which currently holds the European Council's rotating presidency, said there was "positive momentum" in the talks and solid efforts underway to "fulfil our mutual political commitment to conclude the negotiations by the end of the year".

Immigration wrangle Switzerland has been part of the EU's Schengen open-borders area since But the country wants a so-called safeguard clause on suspending free movement of people with the EU in certain circumstances, which could include, according to observers, high unemployment or a mass influx of European workers. Schwok said that the hard-right Swiss People's Party SVP , the country's largest, which is "totally against the free movement of people", was behind the initial safeguard clause push, but that broader support was growing.

Around a quarter of Switzerland's residents are foreigners. Since , Brussels has been demanding an overarching accord to harmonise the legal framework of its tangle of agreements with Switzerland. The renewed negotiations since March have taken a sectorial approach, aiming to update five agreements -- free movement of people; land transport; air transport; agriculture; and mutual recognition of conformity assessments -- and to forge new accords on electricity, food safety and health.

Switzerland's participation in European programmes, including research, culture and sports, is also at stake, while the EU is demanding the opening of the Swiss rail market. On the issue of free movement, he said "compromise" could be possible, adding that Switzerland's concerns over pressure on wages "is something that must be taken seriously".

Status quo or slow erosion?