Switzerland

Great powers never like neutral countries”

Former Ambassador Paul Widmer on Switzerland’s current situation

(11 September 2026) (Ed. Globalbridge) At last! At last, the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” has also published an article setting out key arguments in favour of a “yes” vote on the neutrality initiative.¹

It is an interview with former Ambassador Paul Widmer. For copyright reasons, the full interview will not appear here, but we have taken the liberty of quoting some specific statements by Paul Widmer verbatim.

Neutrality means sovereignty, independence and freedom

It protects our federal direct democracy

Interview with Dr oec. HSG Matthias Buob*

Zeitgeschehen im Fokus: You are a member of the Neutrality Initiative’s steering committee. What motivated you to get involved?

Dr Matthias Buob: As a liberal-minded and freedom-loving person, I consider it my duty to stand up for the Neutrality Initiative. For me, freedom is linked to independence. It means taking an independent stance without hastily aligning oneself with the doctrines of one or the other party to a conflict. One is free to express both positive and negative criticism in all directions, and that is neutral.

Armed Neutrality & The Consistent Renunciation of War

by Niklaus Ramseyer,* Berne

(28 August 2026) Armed neutrality means consistently renouncing war as a primitive, backward instrument of foreign policy. It represents progress away from war and toward peace.

For 170 years, Switzerland has had no enemies – either in the region or worldwide, and certainly no military enemies. During that time, it has neither waged a war nor had to endure one. This stands in stark contrast to every other European state. We on the Swiss left must defend the peaceful character of our neutral country.

Must and can Switzerland defend itself alone?

by Ralph Bosshard*

(21 August 2026) It is in keeping with the tradition of security policy debate in Switzerland that members of the Federal Parliament deal with issues of national defence almost exclusively when decisions on armaments programmes are to be made. What is new, however, is that heads of departments outside this field now feel they must also intervene in the debate on weapons systems.1 One would hope that the focus would be on questions regarding the actual military threat, possible scenarios and courses of action for the Swiss Confederation as a whole.

Left-wing committee campaigns for the neutrality initiative

“Switzerland should once again become a credible voice for peace”

by Daniel Funk*

(14 August 2026) Left-wing organisations are campaigning for the neutrality initiative through a new pacifist and internationalist support committee. The focus is on peace, non-alignment and an independent Swiss foreign policy.

Giving up neutrality means giving up Switzerland

Is that what the Federal Council wants?

by Philipp Gut*

(14 August 2026) Neutrality is a core value of Switzerland. And what are the political elites doing? They are wilfully destroying it. The Federal Council has fallen prey to a preposterous line of reasoning and now believes that the security of the country and its people can only be guaranteed by joining forces with NATO and the EU – an epoch-making fallacy.