National Council Rejects Mercosur Deal After Farm Protests

BERN - The National Council rejected the EFTA-Mercosur trade agreement in June after farmers demonstrated in the capital and left parties joined them on labour and forest standards. Export industries called the night a gift to competitors.

The text would have opened South American markets for Swiss industrial goods and opened Swiss shelves a little wider to beef and wine. That bargain is easy to draw on a slide and hard to walk through a market square in the Emmental.

A sequel in September

The Council of States revived the file in September with a farm-money sweetener, as we report in the Senate vote. June's no remains the political baseline.