Ex-Swedish Prime Minister calls Switzerland NATO ‘free rider’

Former Prime Minister Bildt calls Switzerland a ‘free rider’ in NATO Keystone-SDA

Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt has described Switzerland as a “free rider” on NATO. Switzerland and Austria are surrounded by NATO member states and would be considerably more vulnerable without the alliance, Bildt said in an interview with the Tamedia group.

There is hardly any room left in today’s Europe for neutral and non-aligned states, particularly in the hear of Europe, said Bildt. “The reasons that once led Switzerland to neutrality have disappeared.”

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Bildt also expressed criticism of the neutrality initiative, which Switzerland will vote on in September. “We should not tie our own hands for the future,” he said. If the initiative were to be approved, it would weaken Switzerland’s position, “because it would be less flexible and credible in its response to the next crisis”.

Bildt also defended Switzerland’s adoption of the EU sanctions against Russia. Had it not done so, it would be regarded as an outsider in Europe, alongside Serbia.

Sweden had abandoned its decades-long policy of non-alignment following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and joined NATO in 2024.

Bildt served as Swedish Prime Minister from 1991 to 1994 and later as Foreign Minister. He is now vice-president of the think tank European Council on Foreign Relations.

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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.