Swiss hope for Merkel mediation in EU negotiations

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is making her first visit to Bern in seven years. The Swiss are hoping she will use the occasion to mediate in ongoing talks with the European Union.  Merkel will be receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Bern during her flying visit on Thursday. With only a few hours allotted for political consultations, it is very likely that discussions on important political issues will only scratch the surface. Is this an indication that the chancellor is not taking Germany’s small southern neighbour seriously enough?  “I don’t think so,” says Thomas Dörflinger, chairman of the German-Swiss parliamentary group of the German parliament. “There are simply more important issues on the political agenda at the moment.”  The Christian Democratic Union party’s representative from Southern Baden understands bilateral relations between the two countries pretty well.  Immigration quotas initiative Nevertheless, there are still some ...