Swiss-EU treaty deal unlikely this year: former EU commissioner

FILE PHOTO: Switzerland's national flag flies beside the one of the European Union in Steinhausen, Switzerland February 11, 2020. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland and the European Union are unlikely to agree a deal on a new treaty regulating their relations until next year, when the outcome of Brexit talks is known, former EU Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said in an interview published on Monday.

Switzerland, which is not part of the EU, has a patchwork of 120 sectoral accords with the bloc, and the two sides have spent years negotiating a framework agreement.