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The National Council’s Security Committee wants to put an end to Federal Councilor Viola Amherd’s (61) approach to NATO. Step by step, the Minister of Defense is getting closer to the Western defense alliance. The planned entry into the European air defense system Sky Shield is just one example of many. More to come.
Alarmed by the war in Ukraine, the Federal Council has set itself the goal of further rapprochement with NATO. The war showed how important international cooperation is, Amherd explained, always emphasizing: everything always within the framework of neutrality.
The task is not to defend NATO’s external borders
But now the security politicians in the National Council want to draw a red line. The majority of the Security Policy Committee wants to instruct the Federal Council to submit a motion to amend the law so that participation in so-called Article 5 exercises is prohibited. Article 5 of the NATO Treaty is the so-called ‘assistance clause’, which states that in the event of an attack on a NATO country, the other NATO states promise to provide assistance.
The committee explained on Tuesday that it is not the Swiss army’s job to defend NATO’s external borders. Instead, the Federal Constitution states that the military contributes to the maintenance of peace, protects the country and its people, and supports civil authorities in averting serious threats to internal security. “The army must concentrate on these constitutional tasks and not participate in large-scale defense exercises on NATO’s external border,” the majority of the committee emphasizes.
Amherd has not yet ruled out participation
The fears of National Council security politicians are no coincidence. Only on Sunday did the new State Secretary for Security Policy Markus Mäder (52) explicitly not rule out participation in Article 5 exercises in a Blick interview. “NATO considers inviting countries on a case-by-case basis. We are open to it, but there is no automaticity on either side,” he explained.
And federal councilor Amherd himself has not yet wanted to rule out participation in NATO defense exercises. Switzerland had to “decide on a case-by-case basis,” she explained after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, 64, about a year ago.
For the representatives of the SVP and the left-green camp, participating in Article 5 exercises would mean that Swiss neutrality would be over anyway. “Switzerland would thus be seen as part of NATO, which entails a significant risk of escalation, without the country being able to benefit from its obligation to provide assistance,” they say.
Source:Blick
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