Neutrality – Sep 27 ’26

The Neutrality Initiative would write permanent, armed neutrality into the constitution; we recommend voting No.

Neutrality Initiative («Wahrung der schweizerischen Neutralität»)

A new Article 54a of the constitution: Switzerland is neutral; its neutrality is perpetual and armed; Switzerland joins no military or defence alliance, with cooperation reserved for the case of an attack on Switzerland or its preparation; it takes part in no military conflicts between third states and takes no non-military coercive measures against belligerent states, reserving UN obligations and measures against sanctions circumvention; it uses its neutrality for mediation1

Less than 1% of the Swiss army is female (from Swissinfo.ch)

Per the Federal Council’s official explanations, Switzerland could adopt only sanctions decided by the UN Security Council. Sanctions of the kind taken against Russia would be barred in future, and Switzerland “might have to lift” existing ones, a conditional, not an automatic repeal2. Peacetime cooperation with alliances (armament procurement, information exchange, joint exercises) would end. The text does not change membership: Switzerland belongs to no alliance today, and fighting in other states’ wars is already excluded.

Why the Neutrality Initiative is on the ballot

In March 2022 the Federal Council adopted the EU’s sanctions against Russia. For Christoph Blocher, that decision broke neutrality: Switzerland, he said, “buckled after just one week of outside pressure and criticism and joined the sanctions,” and a country that joins sanctions “cannot in the next breath still want to mediate”3. In October 2022 three EU-critical associations merged into Pro Schweiz, the successor to the AUNS (“Action for an Independent and Neutral Switzerland”), the organization Blocher co-founded in 1986 (swissinfo). Pro Schweiz launched the initiative within hours of its founding assembly (Année Politique Suisse).

The target is the Federal Council’s discretion. Today the government applies neutrality case by case, and since 2022 that application has included aligning with EU sanctions. The initiative would take those decisions out of the government’s hands and fix a strict reading, perpetual, comprehensive and armed, in the constitution. It was submitted in April 2024 with 129,806 valid signatures (SRF).

Official position on the Neutrality Initiative

The Federal Council and Parliament recommend No, without a counter-proposal (EDA). The Council of States rejected the initiative 35 to 8, the National Council 128 to 60, with only the SVP fraction in favour [CURIA-VISTA-24.092-LINK].

The case for Yes

The committee argues that neutrality’s permanence is what makes it reliable, and that a neutrality applied case by case bends under foreign pressure and loses credibility abroad. A state that adopts one side’s sanctions is not perceived as impartial and forfeits the mediator role the text protects. The UN reservation and the anti-circumvention clause, in the committee’s view, leave sufficient room to act. The argument reaches beyond the SVP: Daniel Jositsch of the SP (the Social Democrats) argued in the Council of States for accepting the initiative, “if we are neutral, then we must actually be neutral”4, because sanctions that are not global amount to taking sides.

The case for No

The Federal Council argues neutrality is an instrument whose value lies in flexible, interest-based application, which a constitutional fixing destroys (admin.ch). Because the Security Council’s permanent members hold vetoes, UN sanctions are rare; opponents in Parliament drew the consequences: with the veto in place the commitment to international law becomes lip service (Simon Michel, FDP, the free-market liberals), and without the EU sanctions Switzerland “would practically have become Putin’s bridgehead in Europe” (Jon Pult, SP)5. Alliance cooperation permitted only once the first tanks roll is no security policy (Andrea Binder-Keller, Mitte, the centrists). The Federal Council also warns of secondary sanctions and of damage to the defence industry’s standing in Europe, which took 86% of Swiss war-materiel exports in 2025 (official explanations). An open letter by experts in international law, security and diplomacy opposed any constitutional fixing of neutrality as a break with the Swiss tradition of applying it to the situation (open letter). Operation Libero (a progressive campaign organization; their framing) calls the initiative selling cowardice as independence (SRF).

What the Neutrality Initiative means for Swiss abroad

Most Swiss abroad live in the EU, the UK or the US. Sanctions alignment and security cooperation are the working texture of Switzerland’s relationships with those countries. If the initiative passes, Switzerland’s alignment with the sanctions policy of your country of residence ends wherever the Security Council has not acted, and its peacetime security cooperation with your country’s alliances ends with it.

Our recommendation on the Neutrality Initiative: No

The Yes side’s diagnosis is real politics, and Jositsch’s version of it is coherent: a neutrality applied selectively invites the charge of taking sides. We take that seriously rather than dismissing it.

The text gates Swiss sanctions policy behind the Security Council, where Russia and China hold vetoes, so the exception is controlled by the states most likely to be sanctioned; in practice the clause approaches a sanctions ban. It ends the peacetime cooperation that Swiss security currently rests on, restoring it only once an attack is underway or in preparation. And it does all this in constitutional stone, converting a foreign-policy instrument whose value is adaptation into a rule that cannot adapt. Keeping neutrality credible is a task for policy. This text would end the policy instead. Vote No.

Our recommendations: No on the Neutrality Initiative, Yes on the Food Initiative. How to register and vote from abroad: our voting guide. The recommendations are our opinion, argued from our stated progressive, pro-science perspective; the guide is for everyone.

  1. Original (German): «Die Schweiz ist neutral. Ihre Neutralität ist immerwährend und bewaffnet.» Full text in the Federal Council’s explanations: https://www.admin.ch/de/neutralitaetsinitiative [↩]
  2. Original (German): «müsste bestehende Sanktionen allenfalls aufheben» — https://www.admin.ch/de/neutralitaetsinitiative [↩]
  3. Original (German): «Die Schweiz ist nach nur einer Woche Druck und Kritik von aussen schon eingeknickt und auf Sanktionen eingestiegen.» / «Und man kann nicht bei Sanktionen mitmachen, im nächsten Atemzug aber irgendwie noch vermitteln wollen.» — https://auns.ch/neutralitaetsinitiative/ [↩]
  4. Original (German): «Wenn wir neutral sind, dann müssen wir es auch sein.» — [AMTLICHES-BULLETIN-LINK] [↩]
  5. Original (German): «Putins Brückenkopf» — [AMTLICHES-BULLETIN-LINK] [↩]