In his work of the early sixteenthe century titled The prince, the Italian statesman Niccolò Machiavelli argued that neutrality was the pinnacle of political inappropriateness often capable of leading to weakness. “A ruler must have the heart of a lion and the brain of a fox,” he said, saying that not taking sides was like standing on a fine line between cowardice and blindness.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Switzerland renounced its historical neutrality by strongly condemning the aggression and fully adopting the package of economic sanctions adopted by the European Union against Russia, following in a way the opinion of Machiavelli.
Although politically and militarily neutral, the Swiss government recently asked Parliament for a substantial increase in the military budget planned for this year 2023. Despite the current state of federal finances, the defense budget plan should amount to 1.9 million francs ($2.8 million); a strategic choice which proves that Switzerland would be the only country in Europe capable of deploying a credible military deterrent force against a potential aggressor.
Nevertheless, the decision to increase military spending to strengthen airspace protection through the acquisition of US F-35 fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles as well as to make more agile the mobility of land forces inevitably had an effect on the real perception of the concept of neutrality.
But the debate on the theme is not so new. According to some experts, Switzerland began to move away from the classic sense of neutrality long before it joined the United Nations in 2002. Stefanie Walter, professor of international relations and political economy at the University of Zurich, argues that during the years of the Cold War, “Switzerland was clearly on the side of the West and also had its own position on the subject of human rights”.
The war in Ukraine tested the holding of the international collective system based on cooperation between States and inevitably changed the traditional image of Switzerland’s neutrality. While keeping, especially for an outside eye, an intransigent and inflexible identity imprint, the Confederation today has a peace and security policy based on active neutrality.
The fact of having refused to other countries the re-export of Swiss-made weapons to Kiev, by invoking the principle of neutrality and the Law on War Material, has also contributed to creating an ambivalence in the concept of Swiss neutrality. : the one that has always been seen as a real formula for the success of peace is now considered opportunistic and outdated.
Geopolitical balances have changed and the presence of neutral states no longer has the same utility as during the Cold War years. If these countries were at that time buffer states used by the great powers, today they are considered as obstacles to the realization of the common security and defense project initiated by the European Union.
Maintaining traditional neutrality will therefore be increasingly difficult considering the changing nature of warfare and the relatively limited capabilities of European armies which, on the eve of the NATO summit in Vilnius, see in the sharing of data and technology between allies the only solution for future global military and strategic effectiveness.