(Bloomberg) -- Switzerland’s efforts to forge closer links with the European Union are going to prove a hard sell with voters, according to a new poll showing that about half are skeptical about the bloc.
The survey comes as long-running — and sometimes controversial — talks between Swiss and EU officials on a revamp of bilateral relations enter the final stretch. If those negotiations yield a deal, that will have to be put to the nation in a referendum.
The country’s largest political group — the right-wing Swiss Peoples’ Party — has long been critical of giving concessions to the EU, while the billionaire founders of Partners Group Holding AG recently came out in opposition to the talks.
While the Swiss see economic advantages from access to the EU market, they don’t buy into the idea of a union of common values, according to the poll by gfs.bern, published Friday. Instead, they see a threat to sovereignty and fear a loss of self-determination. Almost half of respondents have “rather negative” or “very negative” feelings about the EU. For just 28%, the response was positive.
The bloc and its only major non-member in central Europe are currently negotiating how to rewrite a myriad of treaties governing their relations.
The Swiss government is expected to take stock of progress in early November and both sides want to conclude by the end of the year.
The online poll of almost 20,000 people was conducted in late September for public broadcaster SRG SSR. Some 71% support the talks, but people are split on whether cooperation with the EU should deepen. While 37% say it should go further, 40% want to reduce it.
“This suggests that identification with a common European project is not as deep-anchored in Switzerland as in many EU countries,” gfs.bern wrote in its report. “Instead, a pragmatic, benefit-oriented perspective dominates.”
The main reasons for positive feelings in the survey were the EU’s success as a peace project, as well as the benefits to the economy from free trade.
Many businesses want to keep good relations for easier exports and the ability to recruit talent. The government’s economy agency said in June that Swiss growth depends on workers from the bloc.
In a recent interview, State Secretary Helene Budliger Artieda told Bloomberg that “the EU is and will stay the most important economic and trade partner of Switzerland.”
“Immigration is a highly sensitive topic here, but I’m firmly convinced that we can’t do without the free movement of people from the EU,” she said.
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