The Federal Council had caused a lot of problems, both at home and abroad. For reasons of neutrality, he had repeatedly rejected requests for the export of protection and war materials to Ukraine.
Denmark, for example, was not allowed to pass Swiss-made Piranha armored wheeled personnel carriers. And Germany did not receive ammunition for Gepard tanks. Central President Gerhard Pfister (60) even accused the Federal Council of “not helping Ukraine”.
Now the Security Policy Committee of the Council of States (SiK-S) wants the books. With seven votes in favour, three against and two abstentions, she decided on Tuesday to examine whether the current obligation to sign a non-re-export declaration should be relaxed. However, this would only apply to countries that control arms exports as tightly as Switzerland.
The law of neutrality would no longer be affected
The Commission is following an action by FDP chairman Thierry Burkart (47). Since Ukraine is a party to the war, other states are not allowed to transfer weapons or ammunition. “If we delete the declaration of non-re-export, Germany can supply the ammunition to Ukraine in the future. Switzerland would no longer be involved in this process,” Burkart explained to Blick. Consequently, the neutrality law would no longer be affected.
Today, Switzerland can only allow arms exports if the recipient state agrees in a statement not to pass this material on. The Commission’s majority now wants to examine “whether states committed to our values and having an export control regime similar to ours can waive such a statement”.
No violation of the neutrality law for the majority
The majority of the Commission concludes that such relaxation would not violate the law of neutrality. At the same time, Switzerland’s technological and industrial base would be strengthened.
A minority of the Commission, on the other hand, believes that the current regulation has proven its worth and that relaxation “brings a significant risk of circumvention”. She wants to prevent Swiss weapons from reaching war countries as much as possible. The Commission intends to review this file early next year. (dba)