The future of Switzerland's famed neutrality in doubt?

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00:00It's been a principle of Swiss foreign policy for centuries.

00:04Permanent neutrality is enshrined in the country's constitution.

00:09And while nothing on paper is changing, a new report by a group of experts is recommending

00:14it does.

00:15Since last year, parliamentarians, diplomats, a former army chief and others have been working

00:20in secrecy to determine Switzerland's security policy for the years to come.

00:25The report, commissioned a year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, calls for adapting

00:30its legendary neutrality and moving closer to NATO, advocating Swiss soldiers take part

00:36in the alliance's military drills.

00:39Neutrality has been a posture that has historically benefited the tiny country of less than nine

00:44million people by positioning itself as a staging ground for important global events.

00:49For instance, in 2021, US President Joe Biden met Russia's Vladimir Putin in Geneva in their

00:55only face-to-face meeting as presidents.

00:58More recently, the country hosted Vladimir Zelensky's peace summit on Ukraine.

01:03The ongoing conflict is largely seen as steering the direction of this latest report.

01:08While Switzerland prohibits the transfer of the weapons it sells abroad to Ukraine's army,

01:13it observes EU sanctions on Moscow.

01:16It's a position far-right elements domestically say is a rejection of the country's principle

01:20of neutrality.

01:22While the recommendations are no doubt likely to create ripples across Switzerland, nothing

01:27will change in the constitution without the people having their say.

01:31A survey conducted last year showed over 90 percent of the country approved the principle

01:36of neutrality.

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