SVP Council of States Salzmann sounds the alarm and wants to upgrade Switzerland: ‘The army was saved broken’

But the Federal Council is stepping on the brakes. After a tussle between Defense Minister Viola Amherd (61) and FDP Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter (59) over the increase in military spending, the target should not be reached until 2035.

To the chagrin of SVP State Secretary Werner Salzmann (60, BE), who had set the target of 1 percent with an advance. He just doesn’t want to give that up. “We have to get back on the original growth path, otherwise the army will lose an investment volume of 10 billion francs,” he says. “Money urgently needed to restore our country’s ability to defend itself.”

Looking for alternative financing

The chairman of the Security Policy Committee is therefore taking a new step. The Federal Council must show how to increase the military budget more quickly – without breaching the debt brake.

Salzmann himself proposes various financing options. The additional resources could be booked as “extraordinary expenses” and would therefore not fall under the debt brake. Whether existing reserves are liquidated.

A Buebetrickli from the SVP Council of States? “Certainly not, the Financial Budget Act offers the possibilities for this,” says Salzmann. With the Russian offensive war, the security situation took a completely different turn. “The military has been badly saved for decades,” Salzmann laments. “Now we need additional funds as soon as possible so that we can replace obsolete systems and increase the ammunition reserve to war-ready stock in the coming years.”

Delays in tenders

Salzmann warns that Switzerland is increasingly lagging behind in the arms market. The countries that supplied arms to Ukraine should now fill their gaps again. “If we don’t continue with purchasing now, we will be years behind.”

He also gives examples of areas in which the modernization of the army could only be implemented with a delay. Salzmann considers the increase in the ammunition stocks needed and the replacement of the M113 infantry fighting vehicle or the Piranha wheeled infantry fighting vehicle in danger. There would also be a lack of funds to maintain the value of the Leopard II main battle tanks.

Salzmann also sees the purchase of a new artillery system for indirect combat at 20 to 50 kilometers or the purchase of surface-to-surface guided missiles for anti-tank defense as threatened. He also sees the defense system against airspace threats – such as cruise missiles and drones – at lower and medium range, which is intended to complement the Patriot system to protect military and civilian infrastructure, under threat.

The SVP State Council sees the Bundesrat as having a duty to correct its austerity decision at the expense of the army. And he announces: “In the budget consultations in December, I am requesting a correspondingly higher budget for 2024.”

SP-Roth: ‘Military not an extraordinary situation’

However, this request does not go through without resistance. SP alderman Franziska Roth (57, SO) rejects the growth rate demanded by Salzmann. “From a military point of view, we do not have an extraordinary situation in Switzerland because we are not in defense mode militarily,” said the security politician.

Most security policy risks are civilian and therefore require civilian responses. “We have to be prepared for that,” says Roth. “We should also start freezing the funds of the oligarchs and looking for the many Russian spies in our country, because that is where we will come under much more pressure.” Instead of going to local armaments, the money should flow to demining programs and humanitarian aid in Ukraine.

Roth therefore thinks it is right that the Federal Council steps on the brakes. “It definitely doesn’t need such a strong upgrade as requested by Salzmann.” There are simply no realistic military threat scenarios that would justify this increase. “Parliament overreacted with the hip shot increase to 1 percent of GDP,” she clarifies. ‘Salzmann’s initiative is a cunning trick to get the arms industry under the army. We’re not going to do that.”