Army with financial bottleneck: new document warns of enormous problems

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Defense Minister Viola Amherd (61) refused from the start. At the beginning of February, she emphasized several times that there was no financial bottleneck in the army. The fact that the army has to postpone until later the implementation of planned arms transactions worth several hundred million francs is “anything but exotic”. No problem, she contradicted her army leader Thomas Süssli (57). The Financial Commission of the National Council also came to the conclusion: there was no financial problem, but a communication problem.

But now Radio SRF reports on an internal document from army chief Gerhard Jakob, which paints a different picture. In the three-page “file memo” from December, addressed to army chief Süssli, Jakob clearly states in the first sentence: “It is common knowledge that there will be major financial bottlenecks in the army in the coming years.” And the CFO makes it clear that this is not about budget figures. Parenthetically he uses the term ‘cash’.

Clear warning from the military’s chief financial officer

The problem: The Department of Defense (DDPS) had approved significantly higher armament programs for the years 2020 to 2024 than planned. There is talk of “plus 2.5 billion francs”. Operating expenses also increased more than budgeted. At the same time, the DDPS withdrew money from the army and used it for other purposes. “The accumulation of these different causes is the big challenge,” says army chief Jakob.

As the DDBS explained to Radio SRF, it had shifted approximately 90 million francs from the Defense Group and the Federal Armaments Office to other administrative units, mainly to finance cyber defense personnel and federal intelligence.

The bottom line is that this year alone the army was short of 600 to 700 million francs to finance armaments projects, the finance chief noted. And he sounds the alarm even louder: depending on how much money Parliament approves for the army in the coming years, the financial situation will ‘get even worse’.

The result: commitments already made can no longer be paid “and projects have to be completed prematurely or canceled.” And the head of the finance department makes it unmistakably clear that the financial bottleneck will not simply disappear into thin air this year, “but that, without timely countermeasures, it may worsen in subsequent years and drag on until the end of the 2020s . “

Is the 2024 weapons program faltering at all?

The first measures have already been taken and planned armament projects worth just over 750 million francs have been suspended and postponed until later. But that will ‘inevitably’ lead to higher expenditure in the coming years. Depending on the budget decisions of the Federal Council, “the armament program for 2024 may even have to be discussed again (withdraw yes/no?)”.

From a purely financial point of view, the army is doing nothing wrong by delaying already approved commitment loans, says SP state councilor Priska Seiler Graf (55). At the same time, however, the chairman of the Security Committee points out that the wave of future investments that the army is putting forward is increasing. It was clear that the major investment of more than 8 billion francs for new fighter jets and air defense would have consequences for the budget. “They knew that and have now proposed another armament program,” says Seiler Graf. “The bow wave becomes a tsunami…”

The DDPS confirmed to Radio SRF that all statements made by CFO Jakob in the “file memo” were correct. However, all armament projects would “continue as usual”. And the department emphasizes that this is “in principle” a “normal process”.

However, Minister of Defense Amherd seems to have little desire to answer further critical questions. After the internal document became known on Friday afternoon, she canceled her participation in the Women’s Day event at the Federal Palace at short notice.

Source:Blick