Christoph Blocher: «Neutrality means not taking sides in Ukraine».»

Exclusive interview - Jonas Follonier

Christoph Blocher believes that by aligning itself with the sanctions against Russia, Switzerland has entered the war. On the occasion of his visit to Lausanne this week for the programme «Contractors» presented by Nasrat Latif on La Télé*, the former SVP Federal Councillor took a few minutes to give an exclusive interview to Regard Libre his strong opinion on the matter.

Le Regard LibreIn your opinion, Switzerland should not have aligned itself with the European Union (EU) sanctions against Russia. Why is this?

Christoph Blocher: By aligning itself with these sanctions, under pressure from the USA and the EU, Switzerland has entered the war. Today, war is not just about weapons. It also includes financial and economic sanctions. Switzerland has violated its principle of neutrality, which is highly problematic. We live in a small country, which can only be successful if it is sovereign and has no enemies. This means not taking sides. Including Ukraine.

If Switzerland had not aligned itself with the sanctions, wouldn't this have been interpreted by the West as complicity towards Russia?

No. The vast majority of Swiss people think what's happening in Ukraine is awful. I agree, of course. War is always awful. It's also clear that we're dealing with a country, Russia, which has invaded a sovereign state. Nevertheless, we have to stay out of this war game. It's simply in our interest.

Read also | «An inelegant gesture»: Pascal Couchepin recounts his meeting with Putin

What do you mean by that?

If the Russians don't stop at Ukraine, for example if they attack Poland, they'll be in Europe. The next step will be Germany. And the one after that, Switzerland. I draw two conclusions from this. Firstly, if Switzerland remains strictly neutral, the aggressors will have no reason to attack it. Secondly, Switzerland is armed, which is a deterrent: the Russians wouldn't be afraid of losing to us, but they would be afraid of losing many more men and resources.

Switzerland, however, bans the sale of war material to Ukraine. Now you're applauding?

No. A neutral country can sell war material. But on both sides. As we have done throughout history. Selling arms to one side and not to the other is contrary to neutrality.

So how do we stop the war? And what role do you see Switzerland playing in this?

In any case, sanctions won't stop the war. As we can see, they have so far proved useless. What's more, they hurt the eternal victims of war: the poor. To answer your question, there are, as I see it, two ways of putting an end to war. Either by eliminating one of the two sides - but who would want that? Or by reaching a peace treaty. Switzerland, had it not broken with tradition, could have continued to offer its good offices. Why did Biden and Putin come to Geneva? Because Switzerland is a neutral country. All that is now over.

Social democrats like German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has been very anti-militarist for decades, are now deciding to drastically increase their country's military budget. That's a victory for your ideas, isn't it?

It's rather a ridiculous turnabout. But I expected it. These people don't take the long view. For a long time, they didn't see the importance of the army and now that there's war in Ukraine, they're opening their eyes. They could change their minds again at the first opportunity. When the First World War arrived, the Swiss socialists had also told themselves that the army was in fact necessary. But once the war comes, it's too late.

We're in the wake of an important election in Europe: Emmanuel Macron has been re-elected President of the French Republic. Were you for him, the liberal, or for Marine Le Pen, the sovereignist?

First of all, I'm Swiss, not French. But wanting to distance oneself from Europe, like Madame Le Pen, is not the same thing as wanting to do so as a Swiss. After all, the EU was built on France and Germany. I often say that the economic region of the EU is Germany, and the political region is France. France has the leadership.

* Broadcast Thursday, April 28 at 7:15 p.m. on La Télé