Swiss voters will decide in September whether to introduce a stricter form of neutrality, which would also mean abandoning economic sanctions and cooperation with NATO, Reuters reports.
Kremlin-backed campaign posters have appeared in the Alpine country, showing doves of peace and calling for a rejection of war, but fears have also grown that the introduction of stricter neutrality could isolate Switzerland from its European neighbors.
Opinion polls suggest that the proposal for stricter neutrality will be rejected. One recent poll showed that 62% of respondents were against the proposal, while only 36% of voters supported it. However, the extensive campaign to implement the proposal is outweighing the publicity of its opponents, and this could reduce the gap.
Switzerland’s neutrality, internationally recognized in 1815 and enshrined in the country’s constitution since 1848, has kept it out of both world wars. Christoph Blocher, a politician with the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), believes that the status has been shaken when Switzerland imposed sanctions on Moscow after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The SVP supports a campaign to strengthen neutrality. In an interview with Reuters, Blocher said that Switzerland has not been involved in wars for 200 years because it has been constantly armed and has maintained neutrality.
The terms of Switzerland’s neutrality are not explicitly written into the country’s constitution.
Their scope is determined by the 1907 Hague Convention, which states that neutral countries must not allow their territory to be used for military purposes and must not treat parties to the war differently. Blocher, who has led successful campaigns against closer cooperation with the European Union, said that neutrality is under threat and that Russia now sees Switzerland as involved in a conflict because of the sanctions. The politician added that World War III could be imminent, and that it would be very important if Swiss neutrality was reliable.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has joined the discussion, with its spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticizing Switzerland on social media for aligning sanctions with the EU. Zakharova herself is on Switzerland’s list of sanctioned individuals, and she pointed out that, from a legal point of view, flexible neutrality means that there is no neutrality.
Supporters of strengthening neutrality want the basic law to stipulate that Switzerland may not join or cooperate with any military alliance unless it is attacked, and that the country must refrain from imposing sanctions unless they have been approved by the UN.
The Swiss government and most political parties, except the SVP, are opposed to the proposal to strengthen neutrality.
Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said that strengthening neutrality would harm national security and would prevent joint exercises with NATO.
Government legal experts have said that there is no need to change a successful approach. Franz Perrez, head of the Foreign Ministry’s international law department, said that neutrality is clearly defined and understood around the world, and that adopting new measures would not make Switzerland more neutral.
Laurent Goetschel, a political scientist at the University of Basel, said that posters with the slogan “No to war, yes to neutrality” could appeal to voters who do not fully understand how neutrality works. He added that neutrality is not a dogma, and how it is implemented should be left to the government, not set out in the constitution.
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