What if the real problem wasn't the strength of the franc... but the fear of taking it on?
Every time the euro falters, the same thing happens: intervention, implicit threats, pressure on the national currency. Behind the technocratic vocabulary lies a simple reality - Swiss savings are once again being penalised in order to correct the weaknesses of others.
Here's why this logic is jeopardising our monetary sovereignty.
What if the real problem wasn't the strength of the franc... but the fear of taking it on?
Every time the euro falters, the same thing happens: intervention, implicit threats, pressure on the national currency. Behind the technocratic vocabulary lies a simple reality - Swiss savings are once again being penalised in order to correct the weaknesses of others.
Here's why this logic is jeopardising our monetary sovereignty.
The strong franc is not a problem. It's a signal.
When the euro approaches CHF 0.90, this is not an anomaly.
That's the market talking.
It's confidence in Swiss stability.
It's a flight from European monetary instability.
It's the search for a refuge from geopolitical tensions.
Punishing this confidence is tantamount to punishing discipline.
«Excessive appreciation»: a convenient argument
The formula is now well established:
a rapid and excessive appreciation of the franc should be «countered» to preserve price stability.
But let's look at the facts.
A strong franc lowers the price of imports: energy, raw materials and consumer goods.
It acts as a natural buffer against global inflation.
So where's the danger?
When the SNB talks about a threat to price stability, it is not talking about runaway inflation.
In fact, it is talking about inflation that is deemed to be... insufficient.
In other words:
the Swiss currency would be too stable.
Austrian logic, this reasoning is profoundly fallacious.
For Friedrich Hayek, stability does not mean artificially maintaining a general price level, but letting market signals reflect economic reality.
Lower prices thanks to a strong currency are not a threat. They are a gain in purchasing power.
To describe this dynamic as «excessive» is to pathologise virtue.
It is not the franc that is jeopardising price stability.
It is repeated intervention that creates imbalances - artificial expansion of the balance sheet, asset distortions, dependence on foreign markets.
The truth is simpler:
A strong franc exposes the weaknesses of weaker currencies.
And that's disturbing.
Negative rates: the invisible tax
Between 2015 and 2022, the SNB imposed a key rate of -0.75 %.
Consequences:
- Massive erosion of returns on savings
- Soaring property prices
- Distortions in pension funds
- Artificial overvaluation of financial assets
The SNB has accumulated a balance sheet of almost CHF 1,000 billion, including hundreds of billions in foreign securities.
Even today, exposure to US assets exceeds CHF 360 billion.
This means:
⮕ Dependence on foreign currency cycles
⮕ Geopolitical vulnerability
⮕ Socialisation of potential losses
The Austrian school explained it a century ago
For Ludwig von Mises, the manipulation of interest rates is the root of artificial cycles.
For Friedrich Hayek, artificially low interest rates destroy the healthy structure of capital.
An interest rate is not a political button.
It's a prize.
The price of time.
When you falsify it, you falsify the whole economy.
Ferdinand Lips had warned
Ferdinand Lips reminded us that monetary solidity is at the heart of sovereignty.
Weakening our currency to support that of others means diluting our own independence.
The strong franc is a reward for Swiss budgetary discipline.
To fight against it is to deny our model.
Defending 90 centimes?
We are already hearing talk of a «fatal» threshold.
But fatal for whom?
For unsuitable industry?
For export strategies dependent on weak currencies?
Or for an interventionist approach that rejects the market signal?
The Confederation has never prospered by manipulating its currency.
It has thrived on stability, neutrality and responsibility.
Conclusion
The strength of the franc is not a danger.
It's a worldwide vote in favour of Switzerland.
Taxing savings, manipulating currency markets and inflating a colossal balance sheet to weaken its own currency is not a strategy of sovereignty.
It's an admission of weakness.
If Switzerland wants to remain independent, it must stop apologising for being stable.