Why aren't the Swiss joining an EU anti-piracy force?

Piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden have increased dramatically in recent years with Somali pirates regularly raiding international shipping lanes - even as this story is being written, reports of a Syrian captain being killed by pirates during a hijacking is flashing up on news sites.

As a result, navies from all over the world have been dispatched to the area to protect shipping. India and China have both sent ships to the area, as have the Royal Navy. The EU has also taken a stance with Operation Atalanta; which has some two dozen ships deployed to the Horn of Africa to patrol the waters.

However one country has decided that it won't get involved; Switzerland.

Today, the Swiss parliament rejected a government proposal to take part in the Atalanta mission by 102 votes to 81. The plan had been to send 30 troops to the area to aid in anti-piracy operations, but opponents of the bill said it compromised Switzerland's long-held neutrality.

One might say that the loss of Swiss soldiers is not a major blow to the operation, after all how much use are penknives against pirates, but Defence Minister Ueli Maurer said the vote was a "missed opportunity."

According to analysts, it had been hoped that the bill would have boosted Switzerland's relations with its EU neighbours after all. As a member of the EU Switzerland is under an obligation to help protect Swiss cargo ships and UN food shipments. However, Martin Baltisser, of the nationalist Swiss People's party said, "It's about being involved in combat operations, and this clearly contradicts neutrality."

Switzerland's long standing neutrality has famously seen it avoid global conflicts for the past 200 years, but many have said the country's stance have weakened its position in international relationships, especially with currently EU pressure on the state's banking secrecy rules. Despite this though, they have often contributed small numbers of troops to certain UN peacekeeping missions.

Currently, Operation Atalanta - has about 10 ships and several maritime patrol airplanes assigned to protecting cargo ships and aid shipments off the Somali coast. Britain, France, Germany, non-EU Norway and neutral Sweden are among the countries that have contributed some 2,000 military personnel. Despite being a landlocked country and not having any warships, it was hoped that the Swiss soldiers would aid with land-based tasks.

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