08/01/2019 (Agence Europe) – The Commission indicated on Tuesday 8 January that its position on the negotiations for a framework agreement with Switzerland had not "changed" since Commissioner Johannes Hahn's press conference on 17 December last (see EUROPE 12161). When presenting the six-month extension of the stock exchange equivalence to Berne, the Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy had indicated that the door was currently closed to any renegotiation of the agreement on the table. Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas responded to comments made over the weekend by the new President of the Swiss Confederation, Ueli Maurer, that the draft agreement should be “renegotiated" because, as it stands, it could not "be accepted". Switzerland launched a consultation on the draft agreement in December, which is expected to be completed in the spring. (SP)