The study said the security picture in Europe had sharply deteriorated, notably due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, power politics and increasingly destabilised crisis regions.

The defence ministry established the study commission on security policy in July 2023, and tasked it with outlining security policy adapted to current threats.

Its report contained more than 100 recommendations, chiefly concerning Swiss neutrality, international cooperation, armaments policy and the orientation of security strategy.

Switzerland’s long-standing position has been one of well-armed military neutrality.

The landlocked nation is neither in NATO nor the EU, while its neighbours Germany, Italy and France are in both, and Austria is an EU member.

“The neutrality policy must be revised, more focused on its security function and applied more flexibly,” a statement said.

A majority of the commission recommended that the neutrality policy be more closely aligned with the United Nations charter, with greater consideration of the distinction between aggressor and victim.

“Switzerland cannot represent a security gap in Europe,” and its location surrounded by the EU makes the need for defence cooperation “clear”, the report said.

“Neutrality is no obstacle to cooperation with NATO in security policy matters,” it added.

“Cooperation with NATO and the EU should be further deepened with the aim of a common defence capability and developing a genuine defence cooperation,” the statement said.

Switzerland should therefore set out its expectations from its own defence capabilities, and what it could offer to cooperation partners.

With the committee finding hybrid warfare was “the main threat to Switzerland”, the country’s arms industry should be strengthened and calibrated more closely to the threat situation.

Therefore, “access to EU and NATO cooperation projects should be ensured”.

The report also called for strengthened diplomatic efforts on international arms control and on regulating new technologies.

The report’s author said Russia’s aggression in Ukraine opened the door to a conflict with NATO, and said Switzerland’s neutrality did not guarantee it would not be attacked.

The study recommended increasing the defence budget to one percent of gross domestic product by 2030.

The report will feed into the broader 2025 security policy strategy.