Business backs UN membership

The Swiss business community is quite clearly in favour of joining the United Nations (Keystone Keystone Archive

The business community has been at the forefront of the campaign to persuade voters of the benefits of joining the UN, spending millions of francs in the process.

Supporters of UN membership include the Swiss Business Federation (Economiesuisse), the Swiss Employers’ Association and the Swiss Association of Commercial Employees.

Under the umbrella of the Swiss Business Federation, most of the country’s biggest companies such as UBS, Novartis and Nestlé urged people to vote “yes”.

However, this has not always been the case. The last time the country voted on the issue, business was largely ambivalent and some big companies even urged voters to reject UN membership fearing the costs involved.

The attitude of the business community undoubtedly contributed to the massive defeat suffered by UN supporters in 1986, when 76 per cent of voters and every canton rejected the move.

Change of heart

But over the past 15 years there has been a change of heart among business leaders who now argue that the political and economic landscape has been transformed.

“The world has changed a lot with the end of the Cold War and there is no longer any real reason to stay out of the United Nations,” Rudolf Ramsauer, the head of Economiesuisse, told swissinfo.

“On the economic level, almost half our GDP is generated with foreigners and it doesn’t make sense not to join the only real universal organisation.”

Although Ramsauer says Switzerland’s economy has not been harmed by staying out of the UN, he fears there may come a time when damage is done.

“I think you have to look 15 to 20 years down the line,” he argues. “The UN has opened up enormously to business concerns. The secretary-general, Kofi Annan, seeks contact with business leaders and the UN deals with a lot of questions that are of the utmost interest to business leaders, from trading rules to the development of international business law to the sanctions regime and so on.”

UN membership

If Switzerland once again rejects UN membership while playing host to the organisation’s European headquarters in Geneva, the business community abroad will react with utter amazement, adds Ramsauer.

“There is no reason to reject membership particularly if you are already footing the bill – then, of course, you should participate in decision-making,” he says. “The world simply wouldn’t understand.”

Business leaders urging Switzerland to join the UN say the country can no longer pretend to be cushioned from the realities of the outside world. But opponents say the country’s cherished neutrality would be eroded by membership of the world body and they fear Switzerland’s foreign policy could be dictated by larger powers.

It is an emotional argument that still holds sway among many Swiss living outside the country’s urban business centres. Ramsauer fears these voters may hold a disproportionate influence because of the country’s system of direct democracy.

“If the vote goes against us it will be explained by the peculiarities of our direct democracy where for constitutional amendments we need a majority of the cantons as well as the people in favour,” says Ramsauer. “This gives small cantons an equal voice to bigger ones like Zurich.”

Having said that, Ramsauer says he is confident that the “yes” camp will carry the day and that the millions of francs provided by the business community will be money well spent.

by Michael Hollingdale