SWITZERLAND: The development of a mutual defence pact by the European Union would prevent Switzerland from joining at some future stage, the Swiss Foreign Minister, Ms Micheline Calmy-Rey, said on a visit to Dublin.
"We are watching with great interest because now we could enter the EU with our status of neutrality," she told The Irish Times.
"But if it goes to a common security system we couldn't, because the status of neutrality forbids us to go into an association of states who could bring us into a war between two states."
Switzerland is practically synonymous with neutrality, and Ms Calmy-Rey is remarkably clear on what that neutrality means.
"We have a permanent status of neutrality based on the Hague Convention.
"During the Iraq crisis, Switzerland applied the law of neutrality: there was no resolution of the United Nations allowing the military operations in Iraq and so, for us, it was not a 'policy operation' from the international community against one difficult member, it was a war between two states," she said.
" Our status of permanent neutrality forbids us to take part in a war between two states.
"So we applied the law of neutrality, which means we forbade overflights of Switzerland with the exception of humanitarian flights, and we restricted the export of war matériel because we didn't want any use of Swiss war matériel in Iraq."
Neither were any landing facilities provided to military personnel on their way to Iraq: "No over-flights and no landings." This would not be compatible with Swiss neutrality, she said.
In a speech in New York last October, to mark her country's first year as a member of the United Nations, Ms Calmy-Rey outlined the Swiss approach to the global dominance of the US. "We should try to convince the US to go in the direction of co-operative unilateralism," she said.
This would benefit the Americans as well as the rest of us because "it's not possible for a \ country, even if it's a very big power, to solve every problem in the world."
She pointed out, as an example of international co-operation, the fact that her government had frozen any bank account in Switzerland which appeared to have a link to Saddam Hussein.
"Switzerland is a little country. Switzerland has no 'power policies', it has 'influence policies'. That means, to assure our security, we count on neutrality and, secondly, on international co-operation and the development of international law," Ms Calmy-Rey said.
For one thing, Switzerland supports the enlargement of the UN Security Council, but she will not say who the new member or members should be.
The Swiss government is a coalition of the main parties, sometimes known as "the magic formula" and curiously similar to the former power-sharing cabinet in Northern Ireland. Ms Calmy-Rey is the only woman minister among seven and a member of the Social Democratic Party.
The country's general election last October was a triumph for an extreme right-wing politician, Mr Christoph Blocher of the Swiss People's Party, who now holds the post of Minister for Justice and Police.
But the central administration is subject to the right of the people themselves to vote down government decisions in a referendum.
In addition, very considerable power is devolved to the country's 26 cantons.
Switzerland supported the recent Geneva Initiative, a comprehensive document outlining a possible peace settlement in the Middle East which was drawn up by leading personalities on both sides.
"It is complementary to the road map," she said, referring to the plan for a two-state solution supported by the Quartet of the European Union, United Nations, US and Russian Federation.
She believes the Geneva document has "allowed things to move a little bit", and it was discussed during her meeting yesterday with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, who is visiting the region this week.
She continued: "Our hope is that the text of the Geneva Initiative will be used at a given time by the two governments as a tool, as a text reference.
"By providing a tangible idea of what a comprehensive and realistic agreement between Israelis and Palestinians could look like, it can help in resuming the political process within the framework of the road map.
"It is one way leading to peace, a small light which shouldn't go out."