Swiss foreign policy must also negotiate with the people. The President of the Confederation, Otto Stich, was well aware of this when he spoke on the Swiss television programme «Arena» on 16 September 1994 in defence of the law against racism, which had been submitted to a referendum. Earlier in the year, the Federal Council had suffered painful defeats over the direction of its international policy, with the acceptance of the Alpine initiative in February and the rejection of the federal law on Swiss troops for peacekeeping operations (blue helmets) in June. While the Federal Council successfully won the vote on 25 September on Switzerland’s accession to the UN Convention against Racism, 1994 nevertheless provided a striking demonstration of the extent to which its foreign policy could be subject to opposing winds – and the extent to which Switzerland’s domestic and foreign policies were closely intertwined.
This interconnection is also apparent in the many other issues that shaped Switzerland’s international relations in 1994: in negotiations with the EU on sectoral bilateral agreements, in environmental and energy policy, and in dealing with the Parliament and the cantons, which wished to play a greater part in shaping foreign policy. All these elements are featured in the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland 1994, which the Dodis research centre will publish on 1 January 2025.
Programm
Begrüssung durch
Prof. em. Dr. Madeleine Herren, Präsidentin der Kommission Dodis
Prof. Dr. Sacha Zala, Direttore Dodis
Presentazione del nuovo volume
Conseillère fédérale Ruth Dreifuss
Entretien avec
Valérie de Graffenried, Le Temps
The vernissage will be broadcast live by the SAGW.
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