Switzerland holds referendum on whether to strengthen neutrality in constitution

No sanctions unless resolved by the Security Council... According to recent opinion polls, the opposition is dominant.

(London = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Ji-yeon = Switzerland, a neutral country, began a referendum on the 27th (local time) on whether to cooperate in peacetime with its military and defense alliance and continue to participate in international sanctions against Russia and other countries.

According to AFP and Reuters, this referendum would enshrine permanent military neutrality in the constitution and limit the government's freedom to effectively decide the meaning of neutrality.

If passed, independent sanctions for reasons such as armed conflict will be prohibited, except for UN Security Council resolutions, and cooperation with military and defense alliances such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be possible only when Switzerland is attacked. This means that the status of a permanent neutral country will be further solidified.

Switzerland has been internationally recognized as a neutral country since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, but there is no indication of how the government will implement this neutrality.

Successive Swiss governments have interpreted neutrality depending on the situation. Although it has not joined NATO or the European Union (EU), it participates in NATO's peace partnership or international peacekeeping missions.

The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), which favors strengthening neutrality, argues that Switzerland's traditional neutral position has been shaken by its participation in sanctions against Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine. The pro-choice camp is putting forward the slogan ‘Oppose war, pro-neutrality.’

The Swiss government has adopted most of the 20 EU sanctions packages on Russia since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. Unlike when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014, criticism arose domestically that it had abandoned its neutrality principles by joining Western sanctions and siding with Ukraine.

Opposition was dominant in several opinion polls conducted before the referendum. A public opinion poll by public broadcasters SRG and GFS Bern showed 34% in favor and 63% opposed.

Fabio Wasserphalen, a professor of European politics at the University of Bern, told Reuters: "Swiss voters like neutrality, but they also approve of the way the current government is implementing neutrality."