Between the myth of 1813 and UN amnesia: The trap of the UDC’s absolute neutrality

Swiss neutrality has helped the country navigate crises because it has remained pragmatic and supportive. Turning it into a rigid rule would do nothing to protect Switzerland, argues Jean-Marc Guinchard, a member of parliament and president of the Geneva section of the Centre party.

For Guinchard, neutrality is not a fixed dogma. It is a living foreign-policy instrument that must not give way to opportunistic contradictions. That principle, he says, is at the heart of the debate over the popular initiative backed by the Swiss People’s Party, or UDC, titled “Safeguarding Swiss neutrality.”

The initiative seeks to place a strict definition of neutrality in the federal constitution. Its supporters present that move as a guarantee of national security. Guinchard counters that their case relies on major historical misinterpretations and political paradoxes.

In his view, those contradictions would threaten the very interests the initiative claims to defend. A rigid definition could weaken Switzerland’s diplomatic credibility, limit its freedom to make decisions and damage the humanitarian role associated with the country’s foreign policy.