Macron state visit to follow two years of strained French-Swiss relations

Emmanuel Macron's planned state visit to Switzerland is a result of "good contacts" Swiss President Alain Berset has established with his French counterpart, says the Swiss interior ministry. © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Swiss foreign policy and political circles are welcoming news that French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Switzerland later this autumn, writes Sunday newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.

The Swiss interior ministry confirmed on Friday that a state visit by Macron is planned for November 15 and 16. The paper quotes ministry spokesman Christian Favre as saying the visit is the result of good contacts that Swiss President Alain Berset has established with Macron. It notes that the visit comes after two years of strained bilateral relations following Switzerland’s decision to buy American F-35 fighter jets rather than the French Rafale.

Berset and Macron have met several times recently, for example at the coronation of King Charles III in London in May and at the Council of Europe summit in Reykjavik. Most recently, the two met at the end of June in Paris at the summit for a new global financial pact.

“For Berset, who is leaving office at the end of the year and whose image has been tarnished, the high-level visit comes just at the right time,” writes the NZZ am Sonntag. “He can conclude his presidential year and his term in office with a foreign policy triumph.”

Positive response

The visit shows that the phase of difficult neighbourly relations is over, Social Democrat Senator Carlo Sommaruga told the paper, and he hopes rediscovered friendship with France will help Switzerland in upcoming negotiations with the European Union.

Swiss People’s Party (right-wing) MP Franz Grüter also welcomes Macron’s visit. “The visit signals the normalisation of relations,” says Grüter, who chairs the parliamentary foreign policy committee in the lower house. “That is positive.”

And MP Hans-Peter Portmann of the centre-right FDP says that such a state visit could help clear up misunderstandings. “Switzerland is currently struggling with a lot of misunderstanding in the international arena, be it in connection with the re-export of Swiss weapons to Ukraine, or in connection with neutrality and relations with Europe,” he told the NZZ am Sonntag.

The last state visit by a French president was eight years ago, when Macron’s predecessor François Hollande visited Switzerland in April 2015.