More cooperation with the EU desired
Half of Switzerland is dissatisfied with foreign policy
The results of a study by the research institute gfs.bern show that half of the voters are dissatisfied with Swiss foreign policy. The population hopes for more cooperation in these areas.
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What remains 30 years after the people rejected Switzerland’s accession to the European Economic Area (EEA) on December 6, 1992?
Switzerland is divided: half of the population is satisfied with Swiss foreign policy, the other half is not. What remains 30 years after the people rejected Switzerland’s accession to the European Economic Area (EEA) on December 6, 1992?
71 percent of the Swiss population are now in favor of joining the EEA. According to a study by the gfs.bern research institute commissioned by the European Movement, the majority of the population wants full access to the European internal market and participation in the EU cooperation programmes.
Hope for more cooperation
Cooperation in the areas of education, energy and security is strongly desired. The preferences in the areas of energy and education are largely independent of the political orientation.
The most important and at the same time most urgent focus from the point of view of the electorate is stable relations with the EU. A relative majority does not agree with the termination of the negotiations on the framework agreement with the European Union (EU). An absolute majority believe the relationship has deteriorated since then.
Ukraine war helps EU’s reputation
However, according to the study, the stable relationship is also in a field of tension, since the second most urgent foreign policy aspect is a Switzerland that is as independent and neutral as possible. However, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February and the war in the Eastern European country, the image of the EU for a relative majority of voters has improved somewhat to greatly. (lui/SDA)