Swiss Neutrality No More? Former Justice Minister Wants Referendum | Interview Christoph Blocher

Interview in german - Use subtitles.

I’m joined today by a heavy weight of Swiss politics. My guest is former Federal Counselor, Christoph Blocher, who was Switzerland’s Minister of Justice from 2004 until 2007.

Councilor Blocher, born 1940, was and still is also a businessman. He became the head of a chemical company in the 1970s and acquired a majority stake in the firm. He soon joined Swiss politics, more precisely the liberal-conservative Swiss People’s Party. He was elected to the Cantonal Council of Zürich in 1975 and only 4 years later into the lower chamber of Switzerland’s national parliament where he remained a lawmaker until his election into the country’s highest office, the federal council, in 2003.

Councilor Blocher is famous for his outspoken style of doing politics, he has many opponents but just as many supporters. For instance, he played a pivotal role in the 1992 public referendum in which 50,3% of Swiss voters rejected joining the European Economic Community—which would have been a first step toward joining the EU. One of the reasons for Mr. Blocher’s opposition to to this step was that it would have infringe on Swiss neutrality, in his view. He won this victory against the wishes of the Swiss Government.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Swiss Government has again taken steps that Mr. Blocher opposes, namely the sanction system of the European Union against Russia. While emphasizing the plight and suffering of the Ukrainians, he voiced his discontent that copying EU sanctions would endanger Swiss neutrality politics and announced that he is contemplating launching another referendum to anchor what he calls Switzerland’s “permanent, armed, and comprehensive neutrality” into the Swiss constitution.

The Interview is in german. Please use the subtitles to follow in english