Swiss rejoining world?

Press, 7 April 1982, Page 16

Swiss rejoining world?

From ‘The Economist,’ London

Switzerland is the only sovereign country in the world that has remained voluntarily outside the United Nations, but it'may not do so much longer. Last month the Swiss Government asked Parliament to approve accession to the United Nations, with a point-by-point refutation of the arguments that have kept Switzerland out until now.

When, and if, Parliament approves the proposal it will still have to be submitted to a national referendum. According to a recent opinion poll, if the referendum were held tomorrow 39 per cent. of the Swiss would vote yes, 39 per cent no. For clarity’s sake, it is lucky that the vote is unlikely to be held unti 1984., The main argument for joining the United Nations is that this is the only was for Switzerland to make its voice heard in that admittedly rather discordant concert of nations. Although Switzerland is a member of almost all the specialised United Nations agencies, from W.H.O. to Gatt (whose last two directors-gen-eral have been Swiss), Swiss diplomats are having an increasing problem in reconciling their activity in these agencies with their observer status in the United Nations itself.

The opponents of United Nations membership, mostly on the Right, have three main themes. First, they say that United Nations membership would be a threat to. Switzerland's very special status of armed neutrality, defined in Vienna in 1815. Second, they say that the credibility<of the • International Committee of the Red Cross, that ultimate symbol of Swiss international action, would be

undermined. Some think that the committee’s role as a court of last resort, to which belligerents can turn for help when the United Nations is bickering, would be jeopardised. Third, they think the United Nations is both useless and expensive. There, is also a fourth, unavowed, element in the opposition’s thinking; a latent streak of holier-than-thou xenophobia. One sometimes sees its point.