The courtesy visit to the Parliament Building took place ahead of the Ukrainian president's meeting with President Viola Amherd and his participation in the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The discussions between the president of the National Council, Eric Nussbaumer, the president of the Council of States, Eva Herzog, and the Ukrainian president and his high-level delegation focused on the current situation in Ukraine and the continued importance of international solidarity. In this context, Mr Nussbaumer and Ms Herzog reported on the ongoing work in the Swiss parliament and emphasised the importance of long-term support for Ukraine and its reconstruction. They also enquired about the outcome of the fourth meeting of national security advisers on President Zelenskyy's peace formula, which took place in Davos on Sunday.
Mr Nussbaumer and Ms Herzog reaffirmed the two countries’ shared values and assured President Zelenskyy of Switzerland's continued support and strong ties with the people of Ukraine. They also emphasised the close relations between the two parliaments and renewed the invitation extended to the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, to visit Switzerland.
On the fringes of today's meeting in the Parliament Building, there was also an exchange with President Zelenskyy and leaders of parliamentary groups and parties.
Shortly after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, both the National Council and the Council of States adopted declarations calling for an immediate ceasefire, the provision of humanitarian aid and the adoption of EU sanctions against Russia. In April 2022, the then president of the National Council, Irène Kälin (Greens, AG), visited the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv to express Switzerland's solidarity with Ukraine. In July 2022, a large Swiss parliamentary delegation took part in the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano. It exchanged views with Ukrainian parliamentarians on the status of the reform process in the Ukrainian parliament and its central role in the future reconstruction of the country. During the 2023 summer session, the Ukrainian president addressed the Swiss parliament via video link.
The Swiss parliament has also been active with regard to the annexation of Crimea: Andreas Aebi (SVP, BE), then president of the National Council, represented the Swiss government at the first summit of the Crimea Platform in Kyiv in 2021, Irène Kälin took part in the first parliamentary summit in Zagreb in 2022, and Martin Candinas (Die Mitte, GR) attended the second parliamentary summit of the Crimea Platform in Prague together with Eva Herzog in 2023.