Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Federal Council has been shaking heads abroad. For reasons of neutrality, he repeatedly rejected requests for the export of defense and war material. Because Ukraine is a party to the war, Denmark was barred from passing Swiss Piranha wheeled infantry fighting vehicles and Germany was barred from passing ammunition for Cheetah tanks.
Now Spain cannot pass on military goods either. The country has not even submitted an official request so far, but Defense Minister Margarita Robles (66) has sharply criticized Switzerland.
The fact that Bern cannot be trusted as an armaments partner in wartime, as German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (53) complained, may have consequences for the local arms industry: Germany no longer wants to buy Swiss ammunition.
Relaxed handling of applicable law
In Switzerland, this leads to head shaking. “The German pressure on the Swiss rules is strange, because Germany has just as strict rules as Switzerland,” says Andrea Caroni (42), member of the FDP Council of States. But Switzerland operates according to the rule of law. “We stick to the rules until the legislature changes them. In Germany, people seem to take it more lightly.”
In fact, Germany’s War Weapons Control Act clearly states that the supply of weapons “is not authorized to countries involved in armed conflict or where such a threat threatens”. And just like in Switzerland, re-export is prohibited.
Bern has therefore long suspected that the quarrel with Switzerland is mainly a diversionary maneuver by Germany to divert attention from the internal German controversy about the scope and speed of arms deliveries. Even before the outbreak of war, Berlin did not want to authorize the delivery of former GDR howitzers from Estonia to Ukraine. Pressure from the Allies was always necessary. And to this day, Germany has shied away from supplying Leopard main battle tanks.
The law needs to be changed first
The bottom line is that Germany has just as strict arms export laws as Switzerland, but under pressure from the world public, is not as compliant – and expects the same from Switzerland.
In this country, too, the pressure is increasing to expand the possibility of arms deliveries. However, this would require the relevant laws to be amended and the applicable obligation to sign a non-re-export declaration to be relaxed. FDP chairman and Council of States Thierry Burkart (47) has already submitted a corresponding request. This does not affect the law of neutrality.
“In this way, Germany could use and pass on our armaments,” fellow party member Caroni emphasizes. “But not ad hoc in the game, but by changing the law for the future.”