In a setback for national sovereignty, Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a proposal to explicitly enshrine neutrality in Switzerland’s constitution, an increasingly important issue as the country faces pressure to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine War.
The proposal, titled “Safeguard Swiss Neutrality,” was rejected with 70.15 percent of the popular vote. As a constitutional amendment, it also needed a majority of cantons (the Swiss equivalent to states in the United States) voting in favor. However, all cantons voted against the measure. A leftist “sustainable food” initiative also appeared on the ballot (and was soundly rejected), as did numerous local and cantonal referendums.
Neutrality Initiative
“Safeguard Swiss Neutrality,” a popular initiative spearheaded by the pro-national-sovereignty organization Pro Suisse and conservative former federal councilor Christoph Blocher, would have explicitly enshrined Switzerland’s neutrality in its federal constitution. The text of the amendment declared that “Switzerland is neutral. Its neutrality is permanent and armed.” It would have prohibited Switzerland from joining “any military or defense alliance” unless directly attacked or under imminent threat of attack, and would have prohibited participation in international sanctions, unless authorized by the United Nations Security Council.
Switzerland’s current constitution only vaguely requires the government to “safeguard” its “external security, independence and neutrality.”
Aside from the exception for UN-initiated sanctions — after all, the UN serves as a framework for an eventual one-world government — the proposal would have significantly strengthened protections of Switzerland’s neutrality. For example, it would have prohibited Switzerland from cooperating with NATO or joining European Union sanctions — two things the country is already doing.
Switzerland’s government formally opposed the initiative. In a statement, the Federal Council (executive branch) argued that it would undermine “a flexible approach to neutrality within the framework of applicable international law,” which it argued was in the country’s interests. The country’s Federal Assembly also rejected the proposal, with the Council of States (upper house) voting 29-10 against it on March 20, and the National Council (lower house) voting 124-65 against it later that same day. Support for the proposal came almost entirely from the conservative Swiss People’s Party.
Notably, virtually all opponents of the initiative claimed that they supported Swiss neutrality, just not the proposal’s stricter definition. Reacting to the results, Walter Wobmann, who chaired the committee supporting the initiative, noted that “the opponents will have to prove what they said” regarding supporting neutrality.
Russia-Ukraine War and NATO
The debate over Switzerland’s neutrality policy became heated after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The Swiss federal government adopted nearly all of the European Union’s sanctions against Russia — including sanctions on Russian oil, coal, and banks, as well as individuals such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov — and faced international pressure to strengthen enforcement of those sanctions.
Critics of the sanctions argue that they erode Switzerland’s very status as a neutral country, as well as its credibility as a neutral arbiter in global conflicts.
Switzerland has also aligned itself more closely with NATO. In a September 2022 report, the Federal Council called for “intensify[ing] cooperation with international security organizations, especially NATO,” and in a January 31, 2024 statement, it announced that “security and defence policy will be geared more consistently to international cooperation, especially with NATO, the EU and neighbouring countries.” In July 2026, the government announced that Switzerland had joined NATO’s Ammunition Support Partnership.
Switzerland has participated in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program since 1996, as well as the military alliance’s “peacekeeping” mission in Kosovo since 1999. Full NATO membership, however, remains highly unlikely.
Europeans’ fear over the Russia-Ukraine War ironically contributed to the initiative’s defeat, since opponents portrayed it as pro-Russian. The government also claimed that Russia conducted “coordinated, covert disinformation operations” to influence the outcome.
Protecting Neutrality and Sovereignty
Switzerland’s policies of neutrality and noninterventionism developed over centuries as a method to preserve its independence and internal unity. Its gradually degrading neutrality today is a symptom of the piecemeal surrender of its national sovereignty to international organizations such as the European Union.
Switzerland’s debates over neutrality and sovereignty mirror similar arguments in the United States.
The U.S. Founding Fathers advocated a foreign policy of noninterventionism. For example, in his 1796 Farewell Address, President George Washington declared, “The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.” And in his 1801 Inaugural Address, President Thomas Jefferson called for “peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.” However, American leaders have abandoned this sound advice, and the United States is now deeply involved in the affairs of other countries — and is simultaneously entangled in international organizations and alliances such as the United Nations, NATO, and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The United States and Switzerland share similar political values. Historically, they were both republics comprised of sovereign states that zealously valued their independence from foreign control. In a speech delivered in August, Blocher compared Switzerland’s Federal Pact of 1291 — considered its founding document — to the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The latter’s declaration of independence from Britain, said Blocher, “is like the demand enshrined in the [Federal Pact]: We do not want foreign judges.”
It is time that both the United States and Switzerland reassert their hard-fought independence.
