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The EU has clashed with the UK in recent weeks over the Brexit withdrawal agreement as Brussels and London dispute the Northern Ireland Protocol. The European Commission has offered up two sets of proposals – one on medicine and one on food – hoping to end the dispute with the UK. And now Brussels has even paused its legal action against the UK for alleged breaches of the Protocol.
The EU has already said it will not renegotiate the Protocol but will “consider any proposals that respect the principles” of the deal.
Brexit isn’t the only fallout the EU has had to deal with in recent months.
Recently, Switzerland walked away from seven-year-long talks with the EU for a framework agreement, marking a huge divide between Bern and Brussels.
The two sides had been in talks over a new framework that would replace the patchwork of treaties that governs Swiss access to European markets.
As George Riekeles claimed in his column for Project Syndicate earlier this year, the breakdown in talks represented a “Brexit moment” for Switzerland.
He added: “For the EU, the fallout is manageable: economic relations will erode but the Union will carry on.
“For Switzerland, the consequences could be more dramatic. With Switzerland’s future access to the EU’s single market in jeopardy, its walkout might now require a Swiss rethink of its relationship with the bloc almost as fundamental as the United Kingdom’s after the 2016 Brexit referendum.”
Since 1992, when Switzerland rejected membership of the European Economic Area, the relationship between Brussels and Bern has been distant in comparison to other European countries.
READ MORE: Sturgeon told Scotland can rejoin EU: ‘End dependence on UK’
“The Swiss case is interesting as they started a little bit like us – no comprehensive agreement – that means we just have conflicts over individual issues.”
Mr Featherstone added the constant clashes between the UK and EU could see Britain become “more anti-European”.
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