G7 summit in Évian in 2026
“Switzerland must not become the release of France”
Former policeman, the Geneva national councilor Roger Golay challenges the Federal Council and tells us what he experienced during the G8 overflows in 2003.
Pillage of a store in Geneva during demonstrations against the G8 in 2003. Photo: Laurent Guiraud.
TDG
- Former Geneva police officer Roger Golay expressed his concern for the Evian G7 in 2026.
- It requires France’s financial guarantees for security.
- The Confederation will collaborate closely with the cantons of Vaud and Geneva.
- The Swiss police are now have 20,000 agents.
“G7: It is unacceptable that Switzerland and particularly Geneva again become the release of France!” So The shock title of the arrest What has just deposited the Geneva national councilor Roger Golay in Bern. He expressed his “amazement” to the recent announcement of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, according to which Évian will host the G7 summit in June 2026.
Why this amazement? Because it awakens bad memories in the Lake Geneva region. The organization of the G8 in Évian in 2003 resulted in overflows and breakage. “Évian having been forbidden to access, the alterglobalists and the black blocks of all Europe had swept and ravaged our French -speaking cities by taking advantage of the media coverage of international Geneva to let off steam at the sight of the whole world”, thunders the national advisor of the MCG.
Financial guarantees for security
The security costs for Switzerland had exceeded 40 million francs and France had assumed it for “its” summit only 18 million. Without counting the cost of several million reinforcements of nearly hundreds of German police officers who had come to lend a hand to their Swiss colleagues. On the other hand, there had been no reinforcements of French police officers.
Roger Golay was a police officer at the time. He does not want history to repeat himself. Namely, France is quietly organizing the G7 in Évian and that Switzerland must manage violent demonstrators alone who could be unleashed against Donald Trump and company. He therefore asked the Federal Council “if he intends to obtain financial guarantees from France in matters of security and in the face of potential damage caused by demonstrators”.
Switzerland has been informed
Has the Confederation be made before this summit beforehand? And how does she plan to prepare for it? A spokesperson for the Federal Foreign Affairs Department replied this: “Before the official announcement in Canada by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Switzerland was informed by the French party that the G7 summit of 2026 will take place in Évian. The competent services of the federal administration will carry out an analysis for planning. The cantons of Vaud and Geneva will be involved in the process. ”
While waiting for more concrete answers, we spoke with Roger Golay, who has the distinction of having lived very closely at G8’s overflows in 2003. He was then group leader in the Geneva police and specialist in anti -rose.
Did the announcement of a new G7 in Évian wake up memories?
Oh yes. At the time, I was responsible for demonstrations in the Geneva police and active in the police union. So I was at the front.
There have been a lot of overflows and looted stores.
The problem is that political power did not want us to go in contact with violent demonstrators. To favor dialogue and avoid an escalation of violence. It was the time when elected officials wanted to act as “observers” or “mediators” between demonstrators and the police. Result: we had to attend powerlessness of the thugs powerless. We were equipped with all the anti -assembly equipment, which weighed 25 kilos, lying on the sidewalk in the shade in the banks district where nothing was happening. The German police, who came in reinforcement, were amazed that the policies dictate the operational. We were ashamed.
And then, what happened?
We made a kind of putsch. The police refused to play helpless puppets longer. They gathered in the nerve center of the Vernets barracks and said they would only come out once they received the black code of the Geneva Council of State.
What does this black code mean?
Restore order by all means available, while respecting the principle of proportionality. The government quickly gave in. And we restored order in the streets of Geneva in a few hours. We have never received so much congratulations from the population and traders. It was rewarding.
Is it the worst demonstration you have experienced?
No. The most serious overflows took place during a WTO meeting in 1998. A thousand five hundred black blocks came from all over Switzerland and abroad. They camped on the plain of Plainpalais. They had been surrounded because the police intelligence service warned us that they were going to set fire to Geneva. They launched pebbles and we replied with tear gas and gas and rubber grenades. But we had a problem.
Which?
For the first time, we found ourselves short of ammunition. It was necessary that a helicopter had to bring us supplies from Bern. There was a lot of damage. One hundred and twenty shops were ransacked or looted.
Do you fear that this can start again during the G7 to Évian?
We cannot exclude anything. But we have evolved a lot in the meantime. Police intercantonal collaboration has strengthened. And we can count on more than 20,000 police officers in Switzerland. But my arrest in the Federal Council aims to have financial guarantees from France.
Will we need German police officers again in reinforcement?
In my opinion, no. Bringing foreign police officers to ensure the maintenance of order in Switzerland does not go very well with the population. Not to mention that it is expensive. In the event of a really critical situation, one could always call on the military police, by political decision, of course.
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