Is Switzerland moving towards a European security alliance?
Against the backdrop of war in Ukraine, calls for more military cooperation are getting louder in Switzerland. How far can the country bend its traditional policy of neutrality?
Europe is re-militarising, as Russia’s aggression and the war in Ukraine fundamentally transform many governments’ perceptions of the security situation. In Switzerland, too, conservative parties – and the parliamentary security policy committee – are calling for more funding for the army.
Along with other researchers, Fabio Wasserfallen, a professor of European politics at the University of Bern, recently carried out a survey commissioned by media company Tamedia. While the Ukraine war appears to have unsettled the population, most feel relatively safe in Switzerland, they found. Some 45% say the country should boost its military, while 41% see that as unnecessary; 8% want to demilitarise, and 6% are undecided.
The liberal think tank Avenir Suisse sees a further option in closer cooperation with NATO and the European Union’s Permanent Structured CooperationExternal link (PESCO) defence mechanism. In a recent analysisExternal link, the think tank calls on Switzerland to treat its neutrality more pragmatically and to engage in more international cooperation.
The Avenir Suisse authors point to Sweden and Finland, both of whom have distanced themselves from their neutrality and today describe themselves as “non-aligned”. Since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Sweden and Finland have also been beefing up their armies and intensifying cooperation with NATO.
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