‘Maximum discretion’ is a thing of the past: Swiss politicians step onto the world stage

Ignazio Cassis and his wife Paola Cassis are greeted by a North Korean official on their arrival at Pyongyang International Airport on October 29. AFP

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis has just visited North Korea. His predecessors had already put Switzerland in the spotlight of world diplomacy.

Iconic images, big headlines: Ignazio Cassis visited the isolated North Korea at the end of October. His aim was to revive political dialogue. The Swiss office in Pyongyang, whose reopening Cassis attended, is intended to help in this endeavour.

Meeting with DPRK Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in #Pyongyang. We discussed reopening the 🇨🇭 diplomatic office in a new format, regularising political relations and reestablishing a political #dialogue. We also exchanged views on security on the Korean Peninsula and broader Eurasian security challenges.

— Ignazio Cassis (@ignaziocassis) October 30, 2026External link

A meeting with dictator Kim Jong-un was not on the agenda. Nevertheless, Cassis’s diplomatic mission is remarkable: very few Western government representatives have travelled to Pyongyang.

Cassis also caused a stir in 2018. Following a visit to Jordan, he criticised the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), saying that it was “part of the problem” in the Middle East. Gabriele Putzu / Keystone / Ti-Press

Speaking to 20 Minuten, Swiss foreign policy experts have expressed views ranging from scepticism to optimism regarding Cassis’s trip. For Hans-Peter Portmann, a parliamentarian for the centre-right Radical-Liberal Party, Switzerland’s mediation makes sense. However, he added that care must be taken not to become part of a “ political farce”, such as the one he said US President Donald Trump was staging with his friendship with dictator Kim.

“He’s a friend: I like him, he likes me,” Donald Trump said recently about Kim Jong-un. Their friendship has long since cooled: Trump was barely able to extract any concessions from North Korea. Keystone / AP

Good offices are deeply rooted in the history of the modern Swiss federal state. For many years, their core principle was “maximum discretion”, as the political scientist Michael Hermann explains. “Good offices emerged, as it were, from the system itself and were not tied to any one individual.”

Wearing a headscarf in Tehran

Since the turn of the millennium, a shift has been noticeable: Swiss foreign ministers have been bringing their diplomatic efforts more into the spotlight. At times, this has also attracted harsh criticism.

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In 2008, Micheline Calmy-Rey travelled to Tehran. Her meeting with the Iranian President also drew criticism: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had declared in 2005 that he wanted to ‘wipe Israel off the map’. Keystone

Christophe Darbellay, then president of the Christian Democratic Party, felt that Calmy-Rey lacked respect for women’s equality. The NZZ accused her of having ‘fallen into the propaganda trap’. Keystone

Calmy-Rey firmly rejected the allegations: she said she had respected the host country’s regulations while upholding Switzerland’s position on human rights. “I did it and would do it again,” she told the NZZ am Sonntag. Pictured: Calmy-Rey on the day she announced her resignation ( November 7, 2011). Peter Klaunzer / Keystone

A symbolic gesture: Micheline Calmy-Rey, then a Federal Councillor, crossed the armistice line between North and South Korea in May 2003. Keystone

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Micheline Calmy-Rey (2003–2011), Didier Burkhalter (2012–2017) and Ignazio Cassis (since 2017) placed greater emphasis on their diplomatic efforts. However, they did so in different ways.

For a long time, public relations and media presence were not considered part of a Federal Councillor’s core responsibilities. That has changed. For example Guy Parmelin, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, knew how to present himself effectively during the tariff dispute with the US. Peter Schneider / Keystone

“This reflects, first and foremost, a general cultural shift in politics,” says Hermann. He adds that this shift has also been driven by the growing communications departments within the ministries – and is ultimately a reflection of the media age.

Silence is golden

However, Hermann sees the real turning point in the debate over unclaimed assets in the 1990s: Swiss discretion came to be interpreted in a new light. “Silence, stalling, cherry-picking: a narrative has taken hold that has cast Switzerland in a suspicious light,” he explains.

The most serious diplomatic crisis of the post-war period

Many European Jews had deposited money, securities or other assets with Swiss banks before and during the Second World War. After the Holocaust, numerous accounts remained with no contact with their owners or their heirs.

In the 1990s, critics accused Swiss banks of having obstructed or prevented the return of these assets for decades. The debate developed into the most serious diplomatic crisis of the post-war period – and a massive reputational problem for the Swiss financial centre.

This was a sceptical view of Switzerland, which was also evident in the debate on banking secrecy, the saga surrounding the Bilateral Agreements III and the war in Ukraine.

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Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter acted as a mediator in the conflict in eastern Ukraine during Switzerland’s OSCE chairing in 2014. Pictured: Burkhalter with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Laurent Gillieron / Keystone

Burkhalter helped to keep the channels of communication open between Moscow, Kyiv and Western nations. He was widely praised for his efforts. The French-Swiss newspaper Le Matin ran the headline: ‘Didier Burkhalter – the future UN Secretary-General?’ Gian Ehrenzeller / Keystone

In June 2014, Burkhalter met the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Hopes for a peaceful resolution to the conflict were finally dashed by Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Keystone

The adoption of international sanctions, Russian oligarchs’ assets in Swiss banks, the row over arms exports: the war in Ukraine has put Switzerland in a diplomatic bind. Pictured: Ignazio Cassis welcomes Volodymyr Zelensky at the WEF in Davos in January 2024. Alessandro Della Valle / Keystone

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Hermann sees Switzerland’s more high-profile foreign policy as an attempt to break free. The motto: the world should see that Switzerland is part of the solution.

Diplomacy as image-building

Moreover, Switzerland’s unique diplomatic position is crumbling in an increasingly multipolar world. “A global competition has broken out,” says Hermann. The Gulf states, for example, as well as countries such as Pakistan and Turkey, want to present themselves as peacemakers. This is also a way of improving their relations with the world’s powerful nations.

Neutral, not a member of NATO and home to the UN headquarters: Switzerland is a hub of international diplomacy – but it now faces competition. Pictured: the then US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva in June 2021. Peter Klaunzer / Keystone

The Bürgenstock Conference on the war in Ukraine can be seen as a statement by Switzerland. The then Federal President, Viola Amherd, took the lead on this. Alain Berset and Guy Parmelin also placed greater emphasis on foreign policy when they held the rotating Swiss presidency. And, as Hermann notes, in doing so they are certainly competing with the incumbent foreign ministers.

Swiss President Viola Amherd with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: The Bürgenstock Conference in the summer of 2024 also brought Switzerland international prestige. Urs Flüeler / Keystone

Visible Swiss diplomacy is therefore not merely an end in itself: it also serves to enhance the country’s image – and can open doors, both diplomatically and economically.

The role of personality in foreign policy

For Adrian Vatter, a political scientist at the University of Bern, one thing is clear: “The personalities of the respective foreign ministers have had a strong influence on Swiss foreign policy.”

Micheline Calmy-Rey did not view Swiss foreign policy merely as the diplomatic representation of interests; she sought to position Switzerland internationally as an active mediator. “With her concept of ‘active neutrality’ and her high-profile public appearances, she gave Swiss peace diplomacy a new visibility,” Vatter told SRF News.

Ignazio Cassis shows certain parallels with Calmy-Rey. “He, too, is a self-assured, communicative and occasionally unconventional politician who seeks the international stage and does not shy away from sparking debate with public statements.”

Unlike his decidedly discreet predecessor, Didier Burkhalter, Cassis comes across as much more direct. However, Vatter sees one key difference compared to Calmy-Rey: “She pursued a relatively clear vision of foreign policy, which she implemented with great determination.”

It is therefore crucial to distinguish between a politician’s personality and their actual foreign policy achievements. After all, a foreign minister can be very active on the international stage even without making major public appearances. “Didier Burkhalter demonstrated this particularly well during Switzerland’s OSCE chairmanship in 2014,” notes Vatter.

His conclusion: the very different personalities of the foreign ministers primarily shape the style, visibility and political priorities of Swiss foreign policy. “What has changed in particular since Calmy-Rey is the willingness to champion this mediating role proactively and in a way that attracts public attention.”

Translated from German, sub-edited by ts

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