Unsurprisingly, the Swiss swept aside on Sunday, by 70.1%, a popular initiative aimed at toughening the neutrality of the country, a text supported by the nationalist right and described as pro-Russian by its opponents, according to the final results. “This result is not a vote against neutrality. Switzerland was neutral yesterday, it is neutral today and it will also remain neutral in the future,” assured Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis when presenting the results to journalists in Bern.
As regularly in Switzerland, voters were called to vote on several items submitted to the vote on Sunday. In the canton of Geneva, nearly 58.5% of voters accepted free contraception, a first for a Swiss canton.
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The initiative on neutrality wanted to include reinforced neutrality in the Federal Constitution, excluding any alliance with a military organization, except in the event of an attack or preparations for an attack against Switzerland, as well as any resumption of economic sanctions against a third country, with the exception of those decided by the UN.
Neutrality enshrined in the Constitution
A fervent opponent of the initiative, Ignazio Cassis explained that neutrality must on the other hand “be able to adapt to circumstances” because it “must serve to preserve the security and independence of our country and to prevent Switzerland from being dragged into a war”.
Anchored in Swiss history for several centuries, Switzerland's neutrality has been enshrined in the Federal Constitution since 1848, the Alpine country thus refraining from taking sides in wars between third states.
But Switzerland's adoption of European Union sanctions against Moscow after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as its first mandate as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, in 2023 and 2024, have placed the question of Swiss neutrality at the heart of political and media debates.
Supporters of flexible neutrality defend the possibility for the Confederation to adapt its policy to circumstances. It is this logic which notably led Switzerland to collaborate with NATO, without being a member. “Being neutral does not mean being indifferent, nor staying away,” noted Ignazio Cassis on Sunday.
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“For or against Putin”
Conversely, the sovereignist organization Pro Suisse at the origin of the initiative defends, with the support of the Democratic Union of the Center (UDC), a right-wing nationalist party and the country's leading political force, a more rigorous concept of neutrality. Among the main parties, only the UDC supported it. But the initiative had received the support of part of the radical left but also of former diplomats and foreign policy experts who called for preserving Switzerland's historic role as an impartial mediator and preventing economic sanctions from spoiling its reputation.
This initiative, “we made it a campaign for or against Putin, which was obviously not the subject at all,” Jean-Daniel Ruch, former Swiss diplomat and co-founder of the Center for Neutrality in Geneva, lamented Sunday on Swiss public television RTS. “But the problems remain. Our credibility is still undermined in the world, in particular because of our policy of double standards in the application of sanctions,” he assured. Moscow, which accuses Bern of having abandoned its neutrality by aligning itself with Brussels sanctions, welcomed the initiative.
After a long, tight campaign, the latest polls showed clear opposition to the initiative, in line with the government's position. Also unsurprisingly, the Swiss rejected on Sunday, by 72.5%, another popular initiative aimed at increasing the country's food self-sufficiency rate to 70% in ten years, compared to 42% in 2024. The government and the main parties had called for a vote against the proposal, judging its objective unrealistic, with the exception of the Greens, who had not given any voting instructions.
