Fair, green and sustainable: a new foreign economic policy for Switzerland

With this report, Public Eye aims to kick-start a broad discussion on a sustainable foreign economic policy for Switzerland. Implementation of sustainability in every policy area and the far-reaching geopolitical upheavals that are currently being observed require a fundamental adjustment to Switzerland’s foreign economic policy. 

Today, politics in Switzerland focuses on its economic interests and often equates them with the interests of large corporations. This is an outmoded approach and hinders the ability to tackle current global challenges. Indeed, it undermines the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the long-term preservation of the livelihoods of future generations, thereby preventing us from safeguarding broadly defined prosperity for all people.

A sustainable foreign economic policy must be based on the foreign policy objectives of Switzerland’s Federal Constitution. They provide the source for the following guiding principles: respect for human rights, global social justice, ecological sustainability and democratic room for manoeuvre. This report proposes a number of measures based on these principles. They are intended to contribute to a foreign economic policy that brings about more justice in the world and helps preserve our livelihoods for future generations.