3 September 2024
A Swiss government expert group has recommended that the country reconsider its longstanding military neutrality in favour of increased military cooperation with NATO and the European Union.
The proposal, put forward by the Swiss Ministry of Defence’s expert working group, comes in response to heightened security concerns following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The report notes that Switzerland is facing growing pressure, both domestically and internationally, to clarify its neutral stance.
The working group included diplomats, senior officials and a former head of the Swiss army, and was chaired by Wolfgang Ischinger, a former head of the Munich Security Conference. The report argues that the current threats to European security might make it necessary for Switzerland to partially abandon the military neutrality policy that dates to 1515.
Key recommendations include lifting the ban on the re-export of weapons, a policy that currently restricts Switzerland from selling arms to countries involved in conflicts. In 2024, Swiss arms exports fell by 27%, amounting to less than 746 million euros, partly due to the refusal to supply weapons to Ukraine.
The experts also advocate strengthening Switzerland’s military industry through greater participation in EU and NATO weapons programmes and increasing military spending to 1% of GDP by 2030. Currently, Switzerland spends 0.76% of GDP on defence, lower than any NATO member except Iceland, which lacks a standing army.
While the expert group does not recommend Switzerland abandon neutrality altogether or join NATO, it does call for deeper collaboration with NATO and the EU, particularly in areas like joint training, missile defence and military exercises.
The findings were delivered to Swiss Defence and Security Minister Viola Amherd, who is also president of the Confederation for 2024. The recommendations will help shape Switzerland's security strategy for 2025. Opposition parties accused Amherd of appointing mainly NATO and EU enthusiasts to the expert group. The report is likely to meet opposition in the Swiss parliament, especially from pacifist left-leaning parties and the nationalist far-right.
On 28 August, a Swiss delegation reportedly travelled to Luxembourg to meet with NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency to assess potential synergies and opportunities for cooperation with the agency.
Bilateral Swiss-NATO cooperation began when Switzerland joined the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme in 1996 and became a member of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) in 1997. NATO and Switzerland detail areas of cooperation in the country’s Individually Tailored Partnership Programme (ITPP). Switzerland has supported NATO-led operations in the Balkans, where it is a long-standing contributor to the Kosovo Force. The country also supported the operation in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2007.