The conflict in Ukraine puts Switzerland under pressure to rethink its foreign policy. It's past time to remove the blinders.
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| Geneva, Switzerland/TimeLabPro |
Switzerland has reached a tipping point. And she's having trouble with it. Because Europe's reconstruction as a result of the Ukraine war is posing a threat to their "holy cow": neutrality. The European countries essentially forced it on the Confederation during the Congress of Vienna in 1815, but it is now precious to them.
In polls, she consistently receives 90 percent or higher favor from Swiss citizens. These are nearly North Korean proportions. One can comprehend. The country's neutrality has allegedly served it well. For more over 200 years, Switzerland has not been assaulted by foreign soldiers. Despite being in the center, she was spared the wars and calamities that plagued Europe in the first part of the twentieth century. Parts of the populace continue to believe that this is only due to neutrality. The reality was less flattering, since Switzerland had diligently dealt with Nazi Germany in order to prevent an invasion. However, in the perspective of the Allies, she was a shabby war profiteer.
And during the Cold War, Switzerland was officially neutral, while in reality it was anchored in the western camp.
Such inconsistencies harmed Switzerland's self-image. They desired to be hushed and ignored. Switzerland has established a distorted neutrality. For a long time, she could get away with it, but in the complicated world of the twenty-first century, this sort of foreign policy tunnel vision is becoming increasingly ineffective. For far too long, official Switzerland assumed that it could assist international tax evaders in hiding money behind the veil of banking secrecy. She remained convinced even as the pressure mounted, particularly from Germany and the United States. Finally, she had to give up and take over the exchange of tax information.
And now comes Russia's attack on Ukraine. The warning signs could not be ignored, but the Federal Council, Switzerland's seven-member four-party administration, was taken aback when Vladimir Putin gave the order to strike on February 24, 2022. He was taken aback by the West's willingness to penalize Russia economically. Immediately after the conflict began, the Federal Council sought a tough zigzag path to avoid European Union penalties. When he realized the dynamics and pressures, he tipped over and took over all of the sanctions packages, much to the chagrin of the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP).
The issues did not end there. Quite the reverse. It was now time to talk about weapons. Germany intended to send ammo purchased in Switzerland for the Gepard tank to Ukraine. It was prohibited in Switzerland. Denmark's intended delivery of wheeled armored personnel carriers fared similarly, as did Spain's delivery of anti-aircraft weapons. The refusal was based on two reasons: international law, which prevents neutral governments from selling weapons to war zones, and national security. And the Swiss War Material Act, which was just recently reinforced by Parliament in Bern and effectively prohibits the delivery of guns to war zones.
The Federal Council had already attempted to soften earlier regulations under the influence of the weapons lobby and suffered a shitstorm. However, the tightening now risks becoming an own goal, irreparably harming the arms sector. Because Germany and others have concluded that Switzerland would be untrustworthy in the case of conflict.
Switzerland is suffering as a result of its unwillingness to supply arms to Ukraine. Understanding was limited at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Foreign visitors such as German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko were outraged. Parliamentarians are now attempting to amend the War Material Act so that democratically run countries can pass on weapons purchased in Switzerland without first submitting a letter of request to Bern. The law of neutrality problem can be avoided, but it is not solved.
Switzerland's rejection of reality has reached its limit. This has an impact on another key construction site, the relationship with the European Union. Switzerland does not wish to join due to neutrality, and much more so due to direct democracy. But she still wants to take advantage of the benefits of the common market. As a result, it has negotiated a number of bilateral agreements, which opponents call cherry picking. Brussels wants to "dynamise" the contracts in an institutional framework since they are static while EU legislation is continually growing. However, a matching draft contract was rejected by the Federal Council a year and a half ago. Restarting proves tricky. The Swiss prosperity model would depend more than ever on good economic relations with the EU, as a result of the Ukraine war and the trend towards deglobalization. However, Switzerland is finding this just as difficult as saying goodbye to its blinkered neutrality.
However, the pressure is expected to rise again shortly. It amounts to around 7.5 billion Swiss francs from Russian oligarchs who were "frozen" by Switzerland. There are requests to seize these monies for Ukraine's rehabilitation. Switzerland defends itself by citing the rule of law, but it is unclear if it will be successful. Apparently, Switzerland knows only the hard way that it can no longer remain an isolated "island of the joyful".
At the very least, the administration has made the first step. Switzerland has been represented on the United Nations Security Council for the first time since the beginning of the year, despite the SVP calling it a clear violation of neutrality.
And the population appears to be nearing a tipping point. According to a survey done by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology's military college in Zurich at the start of the Ukraine crisis, just 58 percent of those polled believe that neutrality protects Switzerland against foreign crises. Switzerland's worldwide integration is sometimes considered as a barrier to neutrality. It is one of the economic globalization's beneficiaries. This is another reason why politicians find it difficult to say goodbye to blinkered neutrality. But a rethink is inevitable. It is time for Switzerland to recognize this.
The author Peter Blunschi is an editor at Watson News in Zurich.