The war in Ukraine has led Switzerland to impose unprecedented economic sanctions against Russia and to express its willingness to rearm, a taboo subject that tests the country's historic neutrality.
This debate coincides with the Swiss government's aspiration, for the first time since joining the UN 20 years ago, to have a non-permanent seat on the Security Council, widely criticized by the conservative UDC (Swiss People's Party), the largest in the country, which considers it a threat to its “perpetual neutrality”.
The Swiss government, under pressure from its partners, recently decided to align its sanctions against Russia with those of the European Union.
This is a shift in the country's traditional politics, welcomed by US President Joe Biden, who in his State of the Union speech noted that “even Switzerland” was imposing sanctions on Russia.
The sanctions angered the UDC, which defends absolute neutrality, both military and political, and threatened a referendum.
All other parties are in favour of sanctions. “This is a step towards more active political neutrality,” Swiss-American political scientist Daniel Warner told AFP.
Former Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey, leader of supporters of active neutrality, said that the country, although militarily neutral, is “free to defend its interests with an appropriate foreign policy and free to adopt sanctions.”
- “Schizophrenia” -
Switzerland distinguishes between the law of neutrality — enshrined in the Hague Conventions of 18 October 1907 and which refer to non-participation in international conflicts — and the policy of neutrality, which is not governed by legal norms.
A position that can lead to “schizophrenia”, according to Daniel Warner, who sets the example of European sanctions against Moscow. On the one hand, Switzerland applied the same as Brussels, but at the same time refused to participate in the UN boycott of the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov.
The questioning of Swiss neutrality has been a recurring theme since the First World War, and many historical examples show that it has often been applied in an ambiguous and variable manner.
“Swiss neutrality is very flexible and is applied in accordance with Switzerland's economic and financial interests,” notes historian Hans-Ulrich Jost, honorary professor at the University of Lausanne.
“During the international boycott of South Africa, Switzerland refused to participate in this process, which allowed it to establish itself as an intermediary in the gold trade,” he says.
Many observers also believe that Switzerland violated its neutrality during World War II by exporting weapons on a large scale to Axis countries.
The war in Ukraine is also shaking up the traditional Swiss defense policy, to the point that some no longer hesitate to talk about an approach to NATO or Europe in the military sphere.
Calls for increased budgets and military equipment have also multiplied, a measure supported by the centrist Thomas Süssli, Minister of the Army.
In an interview with La Tribune de Genève, he stated that “in case of defence, neutrality would become obsolete”. “We could and should then join forces with other states, possibly also with NATO,” he said.
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