National Council paves way for sale of 25 Leopard tanks to Germany Prices for grilled meat lowered more often than for alternatives

The National Council wants to decommission 25 Swiss Army Leopard 2 tanks, but only if the tanks are sold back to the German manufacturer. The debate was emotional at times.

A total of 96 Leopard 2 main battle tanks owned by the Swiss Army have been decommissioned and stored, and the Army has 134 tanks in service. 25 decommissioned tanks now need to be dismantled. The National Council decided on Wednesday by 132 votes to 59. The SVP and individual FDP and GLP members said no.

SVP and the Greens wanted to waive the condition of resale to Germany, but were defeated. The National Council’s Security Policy Committee had requested its decommissioning. The Federal Council agreed and calculated that Switzerland’s needs were met despite the dismantling.

The proposal will now go to the Council of States. If he also says yes to decommissioning, nothing is sealed. Because the state government has the final say on the sale of the tanks.

“Uncontrollable”

The tanks stored in eastern Switzerland are drivable, but not suitable for combat, said Maja Riniker (FDP/AG) and called for retirement. A sale could be seen as support for Ukraine. But Switzerland can contribute to the security architecture in Europe without endangering its own security.

When sold, the Swiss safety tanks were more useful than “stored in naphthalene”, François Pointet (GLP/VD) added. Only about 70 of the 96 decommissioned tanks would be needed by the army, Heinz Siegenthaler (Mitte/BE) added. “Creating a brigade around 25 tanks just because you have them is not strategic.”

The SVP was against the sale, and its representatives in particular caused emotions in the debate. Thomas Hurter (SH) criticized the buyback as “cleverness”: the Leopard tanks were not built in Germany, but licensed in Switzerland. Because of the license, the original manufacturers are in Germany, Defense Minister Viola Amherd countered.

Amherd assured the congregation that it was not a stake exchange. Because a resale to Germany would not take place simultaneously with the transfer of tanks to Ukraine and was separate from that. According to the Bundesrat, the German side assured that the tanks would not go to Ukraine.

Request from German ministers

In February, German Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius wrote to Amherd asking them to sell back some of these decommissioned tanks. These should be sold to the German manufacturer Rheinmetall.

According to the Federal Council, Berlin assured that the tanks would not go to Ukraine. Instead, they would stay in Germany or other EU or NATO countries and fill gaps in supplies there.

According to Commission spokeswoman Ida Glanzmann-Hunkeler (Mitte/LU), it is not known for how much money the tanks can change hands. No bid has yet been received, she said in the council.

billions for the military

The National Council decided on the decommissioning of the tanks as part of the army message of 2023. It wants to make 1.9 billion francs available to the army to buy weapons and equipment and to invest in its real estate.

The CHF 725 million armaments program was controversial – including the purchase of 24 Piranha IV wheeled armored personnel carriers and guided missiles for the Patriot air defense system. Inferior minorities wanted to reduce or eliminate the purchase of piranhas and do without guided missiles.

In the overall vote, the armaments program was adopted by 105 votes to 47, with 41 abstentions. These were almost all from the SVP faction and are probably related to the earlier authorization for the decommissioning of the Leopard tanks.

The National Council also approves the payment framework for the army for the period 2021 to 2024, which has been increased by 600 million francs to 21.7 billion francs SP, Greens and GLP had not wanted to allocate more money, but could not prevail.

(aeg/sda)