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The war in Ukraine becomes a stress test for Swiss neutrality. Being neutral has different meanings for the parties. The Green Vice-President Sibel Arslan sharply criticizes the behavior of the GLP.
Since the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the question has also arisen of how Switzerland should behave in this war. The much-cited Swiss neutrality is currently being defined very differently by the parties.
“It’s important that we don’t celebrate myths,” said GLP Group President Tiana Angelina Moser in the “Arena” on Friday evening. Switzerland is not independent, neither economically nor in terms of security policy. The country’s security can only be guaranteed through cooperation with other countries. The policy of neutrality must always be adapted to the current circumstances.
“Democracies must uphold and defend their values together,” said FDP parliamentary group leader Damien Cottier. This is also what is meant by “cooperative neutrality”, as defined by Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis. It is about cooperation with neighboring countries. Neutrality is not a goal, but a means to defend Switzerland’s security. The FDP is also considering closer cooperation with NATO.
Green Vice President criticizes GLP
Green Vice-President Sibel Arslan asked the group whether the bourgeois parties hadn’t learned anything from the ongoing war. “The rapprochement with NATO on the part of Ukraine alone provoked Russia to such an extent that a war was started there.” And now the commoners wanted to go down a very similar path.
Working too closely with NATO is not compatible with neutrality. Instead, Russia should be severely sanctioned. Arslan criticized the Green Liberals as reacting too late.
SP plans to submit fighter jet initiative in summer
If the SVP has its way, sanctions are not compatible with its interpretation of neutrality. Former Federal Councilor Christoph Blocher therefore wants to anchor permanent, comprehensive and armed neutrality in the federal constitution with the so-called neutrality initiative. This means that Switzerland should not decide on a case-by-case basis, but should not take sides, be able to defend itself and take neither military nor economic warfare measures, explained SVP parliamentary group President Thomas Aeschi.
There is no purely neutral position, said SP National Councilor Priska Seiler Graf. Switzerland defends international law and stands for a rules-based and multilateral order. Seiler-Graf speaks of a “committed policy of neutrality”, which has to be redefined again and again for this purpose.
The declared vision of the SP to create a Switzerland without an army is obsolete in view of this war. “We want a world where armies are no longer needed, but this world looks different.” After all, the SP wants to have a say in the procurement of the new F-35 fighter jets. The initiative is to be submitted in the summer.
For Mitte parliamentary group President Philipp Matthias Bregy, this is incomprehensible: “The F-35 is the only aircraft that meets all the criteria and is simply the best.” One must now move forward, because the offers expired at the end of March 2023 and Switzerland is in danger of falling behind all the other countries in the production line that had ordered the plane in the meantime. “It is dangerous for the security situation in Switzerland,” said Bregy.
In the past, the policy of neutrality was repeatedly renegotiated. So she showed herself in the “Arena” in very different clothes.