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There seems to be a major rethink taking place in the Federal Council. On Wednesday, he suddenly voted to dismantle 25 mothballed Leopard tanks so they could be handed over to Germany. So far he has refused both the transfer of Swiss war material to Ukraine and the so-called ring exchanges for reasons of neutrality.
Now the government is suddenly open to using Russian state funds frozen in Switzerland to rebuild Ukraine. That too is a paradigm shift. Although FDP Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (62) was open to solutions on the sidelines of the WEF in Davos, he was immediately recalled by the Federal Council. He took the position that this was against the constitution. This protects the right to property.
It’s all about state or state-related funds
Now, however, the Federal Council has declared itself ready to take action and advocate at the international level for the basis of reparations in favor of a state under attack in violation of international law, such as Ukraine. The damage to local infrastructure is estimated by the World Bank at around $2 trillion.
The money would have to be paid from the warring aggressor’s state property. And since Switzerland has frozen not only private, but also state or state-related Russian assets, it makes sense to use them for reconstruction in Ukraine. The central bank of the Russian Federation alone has reserves of about CHF 7.4 billion in Switzerland.
The Bundesrat therefore supports the initiative with precisely this demand for a reparations mechanism. A group of national councilors from the FDP to the Greens submitted five versions of this to underline the broad support. About 60 councilors signed on.
“An undeclared change of strategy”
“It’s a great cross-party success,” says Green National Councilor Gerhard Andrey (47). With its important financial center and internationally recognized diplomacy, Switzerland could play an important role in the reconstruction of Ukraine. “But we now also expect the Federal Council to play an active role,” says Andrey.
FDP National Councilor Kurt Fluri (67) is surprised by the openness of the Federal Council: “I did not expect that. To me, this is an undeclared change of strategy by the Bundesrat.” This puts pressure on him to actually get active, says Furi. Switzerland cannot, of course, handle such an undertaking alone. International cooperation is needed.
The Federal Council does not intend to proceed alone. For example, Helene Budliger Artieda, Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, told CH Media that an international debate is underway about expropriating the Russian central bank or at least using the interest that runs on its billions for reconstruction. The Bundesrat wants to get involved in this, he now announces for the first time.
Source:Blick
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