(Bloomberg) -- Switzerland's Social Democrats won't approve a deal designed to govern the country's relations with its biggest trading partner, the European Union, citing insufficient wage protection.
“We will only approve a deal if Swiss wages and working conditions are protected,” President of the Swiss Social Democrats Christian Levrat told newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.
His party, the second-largest in parliament, is spearheading efforts for “socially acceptable” EU policies, Levrat said after attending a meeting of the European Social Democrats in Lisbon.
Switzerland and the EU are battling over a “framework” agreement that would replace the patchwork of 120 treaties that now govern relations. The EU has made clinching an accord a prerequisite for further recognition of the Swiss stock exchange under MiFiD II. The pact is politically unpopular in Switzerland and needs the support of a majority in parliament. The Social Democrats' opposition makes its approval less likely.
The Swiss trade association and the employers' association also take issue with different elements of the proposed deal and have called for a renegotiation, according to a report in SonntagsZeitung.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mara Bernath in Zurich at mbernath1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lukas Strobl at lstrobl@bloomberg.net, Nick Rigillo
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