After the 30-year blocking period has expired, Federal Council documents from 1994 are now publicly available. It was a year in which Switzerland found itself in a difficult situation in terms of foreign and European policy.
Swiss foreign policy in a dead end
When you read the documents, various topics sound surprisingly current. Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad spoke to US President Bill Clinton about peace in the Middle East at an ultimately unsuccessful summit in Geneva. PLO leader Yasser Arafat discussed aid for the Palestinian territories with representatives of the Federal Council in Bern.
The massive importance of the European question was certainly at the center. When you read the documents, it is amazing how similar the discussions are today.
Switzerland was negotiating bilateral contracts with the EU – but a conclusion was not yet in sight. «The massive importance of the European question was certainly at the center. When you read the documents, it is amazing how similar the discussions today are,” says Sacha Zala, history professor at the University of Bern and head of the Swiss Diplomatic Documents Research Center.
Difficult voting results
The negotiations with the EU were already in a difficult phase – and voting results in Switzerland made the negotiations even more difficult. On February 20, 1994, the Alpine Initiative was adopted, which called for the transfer of transit freight transport from road to rail.
The Federal Council had warned against the initiative in vain. An appearance by the then Transport Minister Adolf Ogi, who reproached the representatives of the traffic-plagued canton of Uri on the television program “Arena”, was probably counterproductive.
The EU reacted with pique to the yes vote. This was also evident in the spring of 1994
Visit of EU Commissioner Hans van den Broek to Switzerland.
However, in the fall, the Federal Council presented a Europe-compatible proposal for implementing the initiative. The situation relaxed.
Crisis of trust and yet still a success
In 1994 there were further painful defeats for the Federal Council at the ballot box. On June 12th, three Federal Council proposals were scuttled: no to the deployment of Swiss blue helmet soldiers, no to easier naturalization of young foreigners, no to the cultural funding article. The Federal Council itself recognized that there was a crisis of trust – and also addressed this in an internal discussion.
What is Dodis?
Open the box
Box zuklappen
The Swiss Diplomatic Documents Research Center Dodis claims to be the independent competence center for the history of Swiss foreign policy and international relations in Switzerland. The research center selects key documents and publishes thousands of them every year in a publicly accessible database.
The documents come primarily from the Federal Archives. The protection period expires after 30 years. From January 1, 2025, documents from 1994 will be freely accessible to the public and researchers.
Dodis is an institute of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (SAGW). Dodis is led by historian Sacha Zala. The research center is largely financed by the federal government.
At least the Federal Council was able to record an important success at the ballot box in the fall of 1994. After a sometimes heated vote, the anti-racism law found a majority in the referendum: over 54 percent of the population voted yes.
A successful Federal Council “Arena” appearance this time contributed to this. Otto Stich fought courageously for the anti-racism law on the show.
Foreign policy is domestic policy
The Federal Council had also learned its lessons from the difficult year of 1994. Conducting foreign and European policy in secret and only explaining it to experts – that definitely no longer worked. “1994 is the year in which the interlinking of domestic and foreign policy has become clearest to date,” says Sacha Zala.
Progress in foreign and European policy is only possible if ideas and approaches are supported by domestic policy. That is the central insight from 1994. An insight that still applies today.