Commoners want to facilitate arms exports

Central President Gerhard Pfister (60) even accused the Bundesrat of “not helping Ukraine”. And he still does today. The Swiss state government has caused many problems since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. For reasons of neutrality, he has repeatedly rejected requests to export protection and war material to Ukraine.

For example, Denmark was not allowed to pass on Swiss-made armored personnel carriers on Piranha wheels because Ukraine is a war party. And Germany did not receive ammunition for Gepard tanks.

Germany no longer wants to buy Swiss ammunition

German politicians are fed up. They came to the conclusion that Switzerland is not a reliable armament partner in times of war. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chairman of the Defense Committee of the German Bundestag, is quoted by Tamedia newspapers as saying that such a gap in supply chains cannot be provided in the new world situation.

In concrete terms, this means that Germany no longer wants to buy Swiss ammunition. This could be economically painful for Switzerland: in the last ten years, Germany has been the largest buyer of Swiss-made arms with a total of 1.4 billion Swiss francs.

But Pfister does not want to be impressed by the clash of arms from Berlin: “I think that is an empty threat.” You are of course operating in a free market here. “But that doesn’t mean we need to be blackmailed.

FDP-Burkart is committed to easing

But the applicable obligation to sign a non-re-export declaration is also controversial in Switzerland itself. The Security Policy Committee of the Council of States is already considering a relaxation. However, this would only apply to countries that control arms exports as tightly as Switzerland.

The possible relaxation goes back to a request from FDP chairman Thierry Burkart (47). “If we scrap the non-re-export declaration, Germany will be able to supply the ammunition to Ukraine in the future. Switzerland would no longer be involved in this process,” Burkart explained to Blick. In this way, the law of neutrality would no longer be compromised.

Switzerland today can only allow arms exports if the receiving state undertakes in a statement not to pass on this material. The Committee of the Council of States now wants to investigate “whether states that hold our values ​​in high esteem and have an export control regime similar to ours can waive such a declaration”.

The SVP in particular wants to stick to a stricter interpretation. She sees Swiss neutrality in danger if the laws are relaxed.

Pfister does not want to absolve the Bundesrat of responsibility

Like FDP leader Burkart, Center chairman Pfister also advocates relaxation of Swiss arms exports. However, unlike his liberal colleague, he is convinced that this would not require a change in the law. Pfister refers to the embargo law. He takes the position that this will allow arms shipments to Ukraine if doing so “protects the country’s interests”.

“The Bundesrat could therefore decide today to allow deliveries to Ukraine,” emphasizes Pfister. “He just doesn’t want it.” On the other hand, if the non-re-export declaration were even deleted, the Bundesrat would be absolved of its responsibility. “This is just an attempt by the FDP to export weapons around the world. But I don’t want that. The Federal Council should investigate each individual case.”