By Marleen Kaesebier and John Revill
ZURICH, Sept 27 (Reuters) – Swiss voters will decide on Sunday whether to approve a more restrictive form of neutrality that would block their country from imposing economic sanctions or cooperating with NATO.
The country is holding a referendum on whether a strictly defined version of neutrality should be written into its constitution.
While Swiss neutrality has been internationally recognised since the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815, how the government implements it is not spelled out.
The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has said that Switzerland’s traditional position has been eroded after Bern imposed sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
The campaign has funded posters across the country urging people to vote “No war, yes to neutrality”, featuring white peace doves ahead of the vote.
Still, opinion polls suggest voters will reject the proposal, with one of the latest surveys showing 68% against with 31% in favour.
Fabio Wasserfallen, a professor of European Politics at the University of Bern, said: “Swiss voters like neutrality, but they approve of how the government is implementing it at present.
“They are also generally in favour of the sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, and don’t want that to change.”
The campaign wants the constitution to stipulate that Switzerland cannot join or cooperate with any military or defence alliance unless attacked, and that it refrain from joining any sanctions unless approved by the United Nations.
It says Swiss neutrality has served the country well in the past, keeping it out of both world wars, and also helps Bern offer its ‘good offices’ to help negotiate peace between warring parties.
“Switzerland has not had a war for 200 years because it is permanently armed and neutral,” said Christoph Blocher, the billionaire businessman and backer of the SVP.
“But neutrality has been followed less and less in recent years,” he told Reuters, with Russia now seeing Switzerland as a party to the conflict because of the sanctions.
Apart from the SVP, most parties and the Swiss government oppose the proposal, with Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis saying it would harm national security and prevent it from training with NATO.
(Reporting by John Revill and Marleen Kaesebier in Zurich; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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