On paper, nothing has changed. Switzerland remains neutral, despite the upheavals caused by the new security situation on the European continent since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. While two formerly neutral European states, Finland and Sweden, have joined NATO, Bern is sticking to a rigorous interpretation of its special status. For example, it has repeatedly banned, over the past two years, the transfer of weapons it had sold abroad, sometimes for decades, to the Ukrainian army.
But in reality, a strategic shift is at work, and the Swiss Confederation could furtively move closer to the Atlantic Alliance, aware of the isolation of its strategic position – which is not the case for the last three neutral European states (Ireland, Austria, Malta) which are part of the European Union (EU).
On August 29, an explosive report of a group of experts on security issues will be presented to the Swiss Minister of Defence Viola Amherd, who is also the current President of the Swiss Confederation this year. Responsible for giving “Impulses for security policy in the coming years”this study commission began its work in July 2023, after the first year of war in Ukraine highlighted the weakness of the Swiss security position, while exposing the country to much external criticism.
Atlanticism rather than wait-and-see
Composed of MPs from all sides, diplomats, senior civil servants, a former head of the Swiss army, and even a foreign personality, the German Wolfgang Ischinger, former director of the Munich Security Conference, the group of experts worked for a year in the greatest secrecy.
The broad outlines of the recommendations that he will formulate are however known, since the text was leaked in the popular daily View from Zurich, probably in order to anticipate the criticism that will not fail to come from the ranks of the left and pacifist wings of the Socialist Party and the Greens, as well as from the UDC (extreme right). Champion of Swiss sovereignty, the latter already considers that Switzerland has abandoned its neutrality by following the EU sanctions against Russia.
The authors of the report, who do not mince their words, seem to prefer Atlanticism to wait-and-see. “NATO remains, for the foreseeable future, the guarantor of Europe's security policy, they thus put forward. It is the benchmark for modern Western armies and sets the standards for weapons technology. Cooperation with NATO can strengthen Switzerland's defence capability.” This would be particularly necessary in the areas of digital technology and hybrid warfare. The group of experts does not suggest that Berne join the Atlantic Alliance, even if reading the document “shows sympathy towards himthe newspaper said. Viewadding that Russia has so far only attacked non-NATO countries.”
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Source: Lemonde
