Switzerland And Nato - From Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO: I am very pleased to say that NATO's partnership with Switzerland is one that continues to strengthen.
This country knows that when you're detached, you can't stay away. You understand that security today must be collaborative security. And you've developed that understanding by being actively involved.
Switzerland And Nato
You have made many concrete and important contributions to NATO-led operations. For example, today more than 200 Swiss workers are deployed with our mission to support the development of a peaceful, stable and multi-ethnic Kosovo. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him and the Swiss authorities for their commitment to our mission in Kosovo. He helped keep peace in the heart of Europe.
Nato Media Library: Switzerland Signs The Partnership For Peace Framework Document (pfp)
Your armed forces have benefited from these deployments and working side-by-side with NATO and other partner forces. They are the main driving force behind the modernization of your forces. They have helped you adopt NATO standards and practices that facilitate better cooperation with your neighbors. And they gave you a voice at the table when political and military decisions were made about these operations.
However, our partnership goes further and deeper than just operations. Over the years, your country has built enormous credibility and trust - among NATO allies and among our other partners. With your soft power diplomacy and mediation skills, you are a unique and essential contributor to our cooperative security.
Your country has a long and proud history of upholding international norms and laws. In the last few decades, the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have been the main instruments for advancing this agenda. But your partnership with NATO has helped in the last fifteen years. And the reason is simple.
Because Switzerland and NATO share the same values - freedom, democracy and respect for human rights. We both understand the importance of protecting and promoting these values in an uncertain world. And we both understand that true democracies are always more stable and improve the security of all our nations.
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Thanks to these shared values, Switzerland has invested heavily in NATO's partnership programs. You have provided trainers in defense reform, military training and education and democratic institution building. Your experts are working together with NATO experts to build more transparent and democratic security institutions. And I want to thank you for that.
Switzerland has recently expressed interest in expanding its political dialogue and practical cooperation with NATO to include issues such as cyber security and the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We welcome this interest. And we look forward to working closely with you on these issues in the future. They are another demonstration of your country's understanding of our evolving security environment and the strength of your partnership with NATO.
Excerpts from NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen's speech at the Churchill Symposium in Zurich ("Switzerland and NATO: Partners")
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Swiss Seek Closer Defence Ties To Eu, Nato; To Stay Neutral
A soldier in camouflage uniform and helmet is seen from behind with a Swiss flag in the distance.
A Swiss soldier stands at attention in front of the Swiss flag before the arrival of then-German President Christian Wolff in Bern, Switzerland, September 8, 2010. Sean Gallup/Getty Images
This is what Stefan Hollenstein, one of the largest associations of Swiss soldiers, recently said about Switzerland's relationship with NATO. It sounds trivial, but Hollenstein meant it: his argument, prompted by Russia's war in Ukraine, was that Switzerland should work more closely with NATO but suspend membership.
A revolutionary proposal in the heart of Europe, which is not a member of NATO or the European Union, joined the United Nations only in 2002 and - apart from sending some officials - has not engaged in full military exercises with neighboring NATO. countries because it believes the strict policy of military neutrality enshrined in the Swiss constitution prohibits it. Because of the war in Ukraine, Hollenstein wants Switzerland to finally become part of the European security and military architecture and begin to bear some responsibility for it.
N.a.t.o Zulu G10 Watch Strap Red And White Switzerland, Denmark, Austria Flag Stainless Buckle
Suddenly, Swiss politics and the media share the problem of neutrality. Last week, Damien Cottier, a liberal member of the Swiss parliament, said the Swiss had long thought that being surrounded by NATO countries automatically protected them. He wrote this in Le Temps
"Dangerous pipe dream. Our country cannot be a free rider in terms of European security.
The world has already seen that Finland and Sweden – two EU countries with a long tradition of military neutrality like Switzerland – have begun to seriously consider applying for NATO membership, which could happen any day now. There is also a significant shift in NATO ally Denmark, whose government is now hoping to reverse the country's current policy of not participating in European Union defense plans in a June referendum.
These Nordic countries suddenly have "two life insurance policies better than one," said a security expert who spoke on condition of anonymity. Switzerland is geographically far from Russia and less exposed than the Nordic countries. But they feel the need to move more firmly to the Western system of mutual security guarantees.
Will Ukraine War Mean The End Of Neutrality?
This is another example of how strategic alignments in Europe are changing due to Russian aggression. The military neutrality inherited from 20th century Europe seems to be fast becoming a thing of the past.
NATO membership is deeply unpopular in the Swiss; Only 33 percent support it. But public support for closer cooperation with the transatlantic alliance has grown in recent weeks, and some Swiss want to be as close as their country's constitution allows. "The war in Ukraine is a shock wave for us," said Jean-Marc Rikli, head of global and emerging risks at the Geneva Center for Security Policy, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on Europe's post-Cold War neutral states.
Switzerland doesn't seem to want Sweden and Finland to go and actually join NATO - not only because neutrality is in the Swiss constitution, but neutrality is a fundamental aspect of the Swiss self-concept that prevents it from joining anything. An alliance with a military mutual defense clause.
In countries like France and Germany, language, religion, and shared history shaped national identity. But Switzerland has four national languages, several religions and a highly decentralized administrative structure. (Its cantons have different holidays, law enforcement, health policy, and public education.) There, national identity is shaped by federalism, neutrality, and direct democracy. "In other words," Rickli said, "Swiss identity is a political identity. Joining an international organization destroys that.
Foreign Relations Of Nato
This is why the debate in Switzerland about establishing closer ties with NATO is difficult and sensitive. Several Swiss security experts declined to speak on the record, citing political pressure.
The country's largest party - the right-wing, nationalist Swiss People's Party (SVP) - has already made clear its position that any flexibility on the principle of neutrality would threaten national sovereignty. For the SVP, Switzerland crossed that line when it decided to join other Western countries in endorsing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
However, several centre-left and centre-right politicians have defended the sanctions, arguing that because Russia has violated international law - partly written in Geneva - Switzerland should condemn it. Some have said that Switzerland can and should do more with NATO than it currently does.
Switzerland joined the NATO Partnership for Peace program for non-members in 1996 after the end of the Cold War. The country has also provided training and some helicopters for international peacekeeping operations, such as the NATO-led one in Kosovo. It shares air traffic data with NATO allies to prevent terrorist attacks from the air and participates in NATO's Cyber Defense Center in Estonia. But that's about it. "Until now, interoperability at that tactical level [with NATO forces] was as far as Switzerland could go," Rickley said. "But ensuring full unit interoperability with NATO units was never on the agenda. Now it's suddenly being discussed," he said.
Speaking Aloud What Nato Has Left Unsaid Could Help Ease Ukraine Russia Impasse
The debate was started by center-right liberal leader Thierry Burkhart in an op-ed.
"-"Switzerland is the end of the hedgehog," which curls up into a ball and sets up sharp spines when attacked militarily, but does nothing when other countries are attacked. According to Burkart, the Russian invasion of Ukraine proves that Swiss security policy is "dead." After all, Russia lists the entire West as an enemy. did; Switzerland, like non-neutral European countries, is a target of Russian cyber attacks; and Russian missiles can easily hit Switzerland.
Swiss defense budget - currently low
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