Swiss voters reject neutrality tightening proposal, keeping sanctions powers and NATO cooperation
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Swiss voters went to the polls on Sunday, September 27, and rejected a constitutional amendment that would have made the country's neutrality stricter. The proposal would have barred the Swiss government from imposing economic sanctions and from cooperating with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO. Official referendum results from Switzerland's Federal Statistical Office showed that every canton and about 70% of eligible voters opposed the proposal, reflecting that most Swiss chose to keep the country's flexible neutrality as it is. Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said the vote does not mean the public rejected the country's principle of neutrality, and it leaves the door open for Switzerland to continue weighing economic sanctions case by case, as well as to cooperate with security allies. The Swiss People's Party, or SVP, a right-wing party, pushed the proposal, arguing that traditional neutrality had been eroded after the government joined sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Switzerland's neutrality has been internationally recognized since 1815, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, but it does not clearly specify what form of policy the government must pursue.