Nuclear Weapons Ban Initiative: Federal Council recommends rejection without counter-proposal
Bern, 01.04.2026 — At its meeting on 1 April 2026, the Federal Council decided to recommend that the popular initiative ‘For the accession of Switzerland to the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Nuclear Weapons Ban Initiative)’ be rejected by the people and the cantons without a counter-proposal. It has instructed the FDFA to submit a dispatch to Parliament by autumn. The Federal Council is clearly in favour of the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. However, Switzerland's accession to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons would be a purely symbolic act that cannot contribute to this goal. Accession could even be detrimental to Switzerland's security. Switzerland is already committed to the disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons within the framework of the UN Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
The initiative was submitted to the Federal Chancellery in December 2025 with 105,674 valid signatures. It calls for Switzerland's accession to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) to be made binding in the Federal Constitution and would oblige the Federal Council to ratify the treaty.
The treaty, which was negotiated in 2017, came into force in 2021. Its purpose is to comprehensively ban nuclear weapons under international law by prohibiting their development, production, possession, transfer, use and threat of use. The aim is to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons. Although the Federal Council shares the goal of a world without nuclear weapons, it does not consider the TPNW to be the appropriate instrument for achieving this goal. Based on publicly accessible data, the Federal Council already decided in 2018, 2019 and 2024 not to accede to the treaty.
Reasons for the rejection
In the view of the Federal Council, Switzerland's accession to the TPNW cannot make a concrete contribution to nuclear disarmament in the current environment. None of the nuclear-weapon states has joined the treaty, nor have their military allies. The treaty is currently supported by 74 states; in Europe, the contracting parties include Austria, Ireland, Malta, San Marino and the Holy See. Switzerland's most important security policy partners reject the treaty.
Accession would make security policy cooperation with important partner states more difficult and restrict Switzerland's ability to act in foreign policy, especially in relation to key security partners, as the TPNW is primarily aimed at Western democracies, while other nuclear powers pay no attention to the treaty. Accession could even be detrimental to Switzerland's interests. In addition, accession would be enshrined at constitutional level, thereby reducing the flexibility of Swiss foreign and security policy in the long term.
The Federal Council is therefore maintaining its previous position that joining the TPNW is currently not in Switzerland's interests.
Federal Council commits to a world without nuclear weapons
The Federal Council recognises the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. It shares the concern about the increasing nuclear tensions and the current stagnation in disarmament.
The Federal Council is of the opinion that substantial progress in disarmament and risk reduction can be achieved most effectively within the framework of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which entered into force in 1970 and is supported by Switzerland and 190 other states and is regarded as the cornerstone of the international nuclear order. The NPT is based on three interlinked pillars: the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, nuclear disarmament and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. States without nuclear weapons commit themselves not to acquire such weapons, while the nuclear-weapon states pledge not to pass on any corresponding technologies or materials and to gradually dismantle their arsenals. At the same time, the treaty guarantees all states the right to the civilian use of nuclear energy subject to strict international controls by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Switzerland is particularly committed to transparency, risk reduction and the gradual implementation of disarmament commitments.
Despite not joining the TPNW, Switzerland participates in the conferences of the parties as an observer and is actively committed to a world without nuclear weapons and to nuclear non-proliferation within the framework of the NPT.