Chancellor Kurz bei Sommaruga – In summary: «It is a visit between friends» – News

The focus of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s official visit to Federal President Simonetta Sommaruga was on the issues of the corona pandemic, climate and environmental issues, and the protection of the Alps, as announced at a press conference in the Lohn, near Bern.

“Switzerland and Austria have a lot in common,” said Federal President Simonetta Sommaruga, “even if we compete in tourism and sports.” She experienced the competitive situation as exhilarating, especially when skiing, she noted with a smile. The cooperation is good and it has also proven to be crisis-proof. Kurz sees it the same way: “It’s a visit between friends.”

The main points of the conversation:

• Pandemic cooperation: If possible, there should be no more border closures. If the number of cases is too high in a neighboring state of a region, a regional quarantine obligation is introduced. “The border closures are very difficult for the population on both sides to understand, we noticed it in the spring,” Sommaruga said, and they also affected the economy.
• Strategic Partnership Agreement: In addition to the exchange already in place at many levels, a partnership agreement will be drawn up which, among other things, institutionalizes economic and youth exchanges.
• Alpine protection: “As alpine countries, our two countries are particularly affected by climate change,” said Federal Councilor Sommaruga. Switzerland wants to use the presidency of the Alpine Convention from 2021 to advance climate and Alpine protection and engage Austria accordingly.

In addition to the Federal President, Federal Councilors Ueli Maurer and Alain Berset participated in a lunch with Kurz. In addition to Sommaruga, Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis and Federal Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter participated in the official talks.