Swiss government to negotiate on EU treaty talks without new concessions

The Swiss government proposed on Friday continuing negotiations with the European Union on clinching a new treaty without making any major new concessions, adding it was committed to protecting high Swiss pay levels.

That has been a major bone of contention with Brussels, which has been pushing to wrap up a treaty by the end of the year. Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis had told parliament on Thursday that talks had not made enough progress so far to clinch a deal due to differences over rules to protect Swiss wages from the cross-border competition.