Switzerland

Sword of Damocles hanging over Swiss heads

The devil is in the detail of the treaty package with the EU

by Professor Dr Dr h.c. Carl Baudenbacher*

(24 July 2026) In the official documents on the EU–Switzerland treaty package, the “Explanatory Report” of June 2025 and the dispatch of March 2026, the Federal Council does not stint on praise for its more than seventy negotiators, who between March and December 2024 took part in more than 200 negotiating meetings and rounds across fourteen specialist areas, or tracks. It is said again and again that all negotiating objectives were met, indeed more than met. Since these texts were written by the federal administration, one may assume that the civil servants awarded themselves the applause. Anyone who experienced the defunct GDR will be reminded, to some extent, of the slogans of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) at party congresses.

Switzerland

“Sanctions against Jacques Baud”

Open letter to Mr Guy Parmelin, President of the Swiss Confederation, drafted by the “Geneva International Peace Research Institute” (GIPRI)

Mr Guy Parmelin, President of the Swiss Confederation
Communications Service SG-DEFR
Federal Palace East
3003 Bern
info@gs-wbf.admin.ch

Geneva, 25 June 2026

Sanctions against Jacques Baud

Dear Mr President

My colleagues at the International Institute for Peace Research in Geneva (GIPRI) and I hereby expressly draw your attention to the case of retired Colonel Jacques Baud.

Colonel Jacques Baud is subject to direct (imposed by the EU) and indirect (imposed by UBS) sanctions which violate several principles and legal provisions to which Switzerland is committed: peace, justice, international law, human rights, the rule of law and neutrality.

“Europe’s last candle”

Switzerland as a counter-model to Brussels’ centralism … that could all come to an end with the EU framework agreement

by Michael Straumann*

(26 June 2026) The planned framework agreement with the European Union is a perennial topic of debate in Switzerland. Consequently, another power struggle broke out at the Federal Palace in Bern at the end of May. Parliamentarians are arguing over which committee – known in Switzerland as a “commission” – should be responsible for the EU treaty package.

Elon Musk and the Starlink antennas: Leuk could become a military target

by Remo Massat*

(19 June 2026) Remo Massat, editor-in-chief of the Walliser Zeitung, raises a valid yet hitherto largely overlooked question: What impact does Elon Musk’s Starlink project in Leuk have on Swiss neutrality?

When health policy becomes a question of power

by Ralph Studer*

(5 June 2026) Mandatory vaccinations, liability issues and new technologies are causing unease across Switzerland. Whilst cantons are tightening their health laws and the federal government is revising the Epidemics Act, concerns are growing that state intervention could go too far. Initial consultations have led to restrictions on the state’s scope for intervention.

Neutrality: a service to others – not merely a form of protection

by Colonel Jacques Baud,* Brussels

(22 May 2026) (CH-S) Switzerland has lost credibility as a mediator. On 25 April, in an opening address delivered online to the general meeting of the association “bene.swiss.ch”,¹ Jacques Baud called for a return to an active neutrality that serves others.