CRITICS SAY SWISS COMPROMISED NEUTRALITY FOR U.S.
By Deborah Ball
Wall Street Journal
October 13, 2009
BERN — Switzerland’s vaunted ability to stand above the fray of
global politics is under pressure on the heels of several international
dustups in which critics say the famously neutral country has conceded
too much to others, especially the U.S.
Neutrality has been the central ideal of Swiss foreign policy since the
16th century, guaranteeing the safety of a small country surrounded
by larger powers often at war. The country’s ability to parlay that
notion into a key role on the world stage was on display again over
the weekend, when Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey met
with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Zurich to sign a
historic pact reopening diplomatic ties between Turkey and Armenia,
a deal the Swiss helped to broker.
But in recent months, that diplomatic role has taken a back seat to
a spate of incidents in which Switzerland was perceived to be on the
losing end of confrontations with the U.S.
[swiss neutrality and hillary clinton] Agence France Presse/Getty
Images
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, with Swiss Foreign Minister
Micheline Calmy-Rey in Zurich this month.
In August, under pressure from the Obama administration, it agreed to
hand over details of thousands of bank accounts at Swiss banking giant
UBS AG held by Americans suspected of dodging taxes. The concession
marked a major breach in Switzerland’s much-cherished bank secrecy.
Last year, the Swiss government destroyed documents involved in a
case of two Swiss engineers suspected of having helped the Central
Intelligence Agency thwart attempts by Libya and Iran to develop
nuclear weapons. A Swiss parliamentary commission later said the
Swiss government acted under pressure from Washington.
Then, the Sept. 26 arrest of director Roman Polanski in Zurich led some
to accuse the Swiss of jumping to arrest the Oscar-winning director
in order to win points with the U.S. Mr. Polanski has been wanted
in Californ 1978 for raping a 13-year-old girl and then fleeing the
country before he was sentenced.
"I have the impression that Switzerland acted as the right-hand
man for American justice," said Toni Brunner, the head of the
conservative Swiss People’s Party. "Taking orders from foreign bosses
is dangerous." The Swiss government has denied any connection, saying
it simply respected an extradition treaty with the U.S.
Meanwhile, Switzerland is locked in a yearlong standoff with Libya
over the fate of two Swiss businessmen held hostage in the North
African country after Geneva police arrested Moammar Gadhafi’s son
Hannibal for allegedly beating two servants.
Switzerland’s allies have been conspicuously silent about the
incident. In August, Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz traveled to
Tripoli to apologize personally for the arrest, but failed to secure
the release of the two men.
It is a tough turn of events for a country that, during the Cold War,
carved out a special status far exceeding its size by serving as a
frequent host for talks between the East and West. With the end of
the Cold War, however, Switzerland, with a population of less than
eight million, risked seeing its influence wane.
In response, since 2003, Ms. Calmy-Rey, the foreign minister, has
pursued a policy dubbed "active neutrality," under which Switzerland
acts not only as a host for talks, but also offers to mediate in
intractable international conflicts. In return, Switzerland hopes
that such efforts let it punch above its weight in relations with
big powers such as Russia and the U.S.
"We are too small to harm other countries, and so we can transform this
into an advantage," said Michael Ambuhl, Switzerland’s top diplomat.
The Swiss say that mediation activities have given it high-level
access that has helped to quickly defuse other problems. The fact
that Ms. Calmy-Rey and Mrs. Clinton have already met three times this
year "is remarkable relative to other countries of similar size,"
said Mr. Ambuhl. Ms. Calmy-Rey has said that such contacts hel olve
the UBS case relatively quickly.
Recently, the Swiss also lobbied successfully to hold the high-profile
talks on curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions in Geneva, rather than
Istanbul, as originally proposed. It beat out Sweden to mediate
the conflict between Georgia and Russia, and Switzerland represents
Georgia’s and Russia’s interest in the other’s capital. For decades,
Swiss embassies have represented U.S. interests in Cuba and Iran, most
recently working to try to free three American hikers detained in Iran.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Bern had no comment on the
state of U.S.-Swiss relations.
Some say active neutrality has its limits. "The problem is that
Switzerland is such as small country," says Andreas Ladner, a
political-science professor at the University of Lausanne. "If the
U.S. decides to increase the pressure, the situation for the Swiss
is difficult."
Write to Deborah Ball at deborah.ball@w