The Ukraine war does not bring neutral Switzerland any closer to NATO | News about the war between Russia and Ukraine
The security architecture on the European continent is changing dramatically as Russia escalates its war against Ukraine.
While Finland and Sweden are increasingly joining NATO, closer cooperation with the alliance is also being hotly debated in Switzerland.
But will the mountainous, landlocked Central European country give up its principle of neutrality and make an offer to the Washington-led Western military alliance?
Laurent Goetschel, director of swisspeace and professor of political science at the University of Basel, told Al Jazeera that there could be some benefits.
“The country could benefit from additional networks in terms of intelligence and other security-related exchange formats,” Goetschel said, adding that NATO would have an additional member and there would be “no more discussions about Swiss airspace — or even land routes — to be allowed to use. for transport and communication”.
But he added: “Neutrality has historical roots in the past two centuries, when it served the country to maintain its independence in a Europe marked by major wars. It also helped national cohesion when parts of the population would have preferred to support France and other parts of Germany.
“Over the years and through its success, neutrality has become part of the Swiss national identity. To this day, it represents the district’s most important foreign policy direction.”
Like Switzerland as opposed to Sweden, Finland is
During the Cold War, Sweden and Finland were essentially neutral states.
“Sweden’s neutrality was much more part of their national identity, while Finland’s neutrality was more pragmatic and practically imposed on them by the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance signed between Finland and the USSR in 1948,” Alistair Shepherd, Lecturer in European Security at Aberystwyth University recently told Al Jazeera.
According to Wyn Rees, professor of international security at the University of Nottingham, their bid to join NATO is a “tectonic shift… that has changed politics over 70 years”.
Unlike Switzerland, both countries are members of the European Union and have supplied arms to Ukraine.
They have allowed NATO to conduct operations on their territory since 2014 – and participated in them.
Meanwhile, public support for NATO has grown in northern European neighbors.
In contrast, Switzerland has not sent any arms to Ukraine and has blocked a German request for arms re-export, even though it is a recent one opinion poll Only 19 percent of the Swiss population supported joining the alliance.
The poll also found that a majority were opposed to sending weapons but agreed to protective vests and helmets being sent to Ukraine.
However, the country has sanctioned Russia and sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Switzerland — a country of 26 cantons and four national languages — is historically proud of being a neutral state that has become synonymous with diplomacy over the past few decades.
It has often hosted political opponents, such as during the famous Cold War-era meeting, the 1985 Geneva Summit, between US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev.
This sense of a neutral national identity seems strong, even if most of Europe is firmly behind Ukraine and against Russia.
But there is a “big discussion” about Swiss sanctions against Russia, said Goetschel.
“This discussion was quickly resolved when the government decided on this adoption [almost] The same sanctions as the EU would not jeopardize neutrality,” he said.
And in terms of party politics, various parties in Switzerland are calling for a rapprochement with NATO.
Their main argument is that Switzerland cannot defend itself.
Liberal (FDP), Green Liberal Party (GLP) and Center (Die Mitte) advocate expanding cooperation with the military alliance, but none advocates joining.
The Swiss People’s Party (SPP), the Swiss Greens (Greens) and the Social Democratic Party (SP) reject cooperation with NATO, albeit for different reasons.
Across the spectrum, however, the parties agree that Switzerland is already working with NATO in certain areas and that NATO membership remains unacceptable.
According to SP, Switzerland should focus on prioritizing cooperation with the European Union and strengthening international law.
“Switzerland would have to renounce neutrality [to join NATO], as it is incompatible with membership of a military alliance. That’s unthinkable in Switzerland for the time being,” said Goetschel.
“Since Switzerland – with the exception of Austria – is surrounded by NATO countries, its military security would not benefit from NATO membership,” Goetschel added, noting that Finland shares over 1,300 kilometers of border with Russia.
As for the Russian response, no matter how many nations join the alliance, the Kremlin will certainly not be happy with its expansion.
“It will mean that Russia will not achieve its goal of weakening NATO, which has been its longstanding goal,” Kamil Zwolski, associate professor of international politics at the University of Southampton, told Al Jazeera. “NATO will become stronger as enlargement takes place, and this is an unintended consequence of the invasion of Ukraine.
“NATO has also become stronger because nobody in Washington will question the viability of the alliance, and that’s a problem for Russia too.”