Switzerland is at risk of being too much of a people pleaser - Jane Bradley

Switzerland’s neutrality in times of conflict has been more than marginally questionable in the past.

Accused of being a handler of Nazi gold during the Second World War, having economic ties to the apartheid regime in South Africa and benefiting from a corporate espionage scandal during the Cold War, the record is not exactly as squeaky clean as its pristine snow-covered mountains.

The country, however, still stands by the neutral position it assumed at the Treaty of Paris in 1815 – a stance it has cemented again this weekend.

A Swiss Sunday newspaper revealed the government plans to destroy anti-aircraft missile systems originally manufactured in the UK, rather than donate them to the war effort in Ukraine. The decision, to scrap 60 Rapier ground-to-air defence systems, is the fourth time Switzerland has refused to re-export ammunition sold to it by a European country since the Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago.

Switzerland has a long tradition of neutrality in international politics.

The anti-aircraft systems, bought by Switzerland in the 1980s, are outdated. But they are still of some use, particularly against drone attacks – the British Government reportedly utilised a similar model to protect London during the 2012 Olympic Games.

A law laid down by the Swiss government in 2006 states that foreign systems no longer needed by the Swiss military can be sold back to the producing country "without conditions”, arguably ensuring that doing so does not affect neutrality of the country. The move, confirmed by Kaj-Gunnar Sievert, spokesperson for Armasuisse, the Federal Armaments Office of the Ministry of Defense in Bern, to the NZZ Am Sonntag newspaper, clearly demonstrates Switzerland clearly does not want to get further involved in the situation in Ukraine.

Yet, its neutrality has undoubtedly been flexed at other times. During the Second World War, it is believed Swiss banks bought around $1.7 billion [£1.4bn] of Nazi gold, including gold that Germany plundered from the reserves of countries it occupied during the conflict, including Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway. Some of this gold was confiscated from individuals – or removed from victims of concentration camps.

According to Stuart Eizenstat, a US attorney and diplomat who served as US Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade, the Swiss were “the principal bankers and financial brokers of the Nazis”.

"Neutrality collided with morality; too often being neutral provided a pretext for avoiding moral considerations," he said in a report in 1997.

The latest munitions row has not only angered European leaders, but has been opposed by some Swiss politicians.

"It is absurd that in Switzerland we are scrapping defensive weapons that still work," said Green-Liberal member of the Swiss National Council, François Pointet, who said he believes the Rapier is not subject to the law prohibiting the export of Swiss military equipment to conflict zones.

The country did, to the surprise of some, join in European sanctions against Russia last year. Now, it is saying it wants to actively refuse something which is not against its neutrality laws, but which would also show support for Ukraine. If the first was the right thing to do, why not the second?

A neutral stance is understandable and in these divisive times, perhaps something to be admired – or envied. But the Swiss government should remember that being a people pleaser never actually pleases anyone.