A poll by Swiss media company Tamedia, suggests a majority of Swiss are against the CHF 1.3 billion payment the Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive, agreed to contribute towards EU payments to EU members in eastern Europe over 10 years. The poll results were reported in 20 Minutes.
© Stephan Bock _ Dreamstime.com
After agreeing the sum in November last year when Jean-Claude Juncker visited Bern, the Federal Council wavered. One month after the decision, following the EU’s failure to recognize Swiss stock exchange equivalence, the Federal Council said that it would not exclude the possibility of relooking at the payment. In the same press release the Federal Council said it considered Switzerland’s exclusion from the list of nations granted stock exchange equivalence as discriminatory.
When the payment was announced, there was a negative reaction from some quarters. The Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP) and PLR/FDP criticized the Federal Council for agreeing without negotiating anything in return.
Last week Tamedia published the results of a poll on the CHF 1.3 billion payment.
When asked whether they approved of the payment, 66% said either no (47%) or probably no (19%). Only 11% said yes, while a further 18% said probably yes. 5% were undecided.
Tamedia questioned 20,422 people between 4 and 5 January 2018.
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