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Aline Trede did not have it easy on Friday evening. In the “Arena” she had to explain why the Greens do not want Swiss ammunition to be passed on to Ukraine.

The issue of re-exports is a hot potato for the Greens. Surveys show that a large proportion of voters are in favor of passing – but the Greens parliamentarians see it differently.

Given the likely distortions, Trede should have packed a bottle of Perskindol before going to Studio 8 on the Leutschenbach. No matter how the Greens group leader had prepared, it wasn’t bad. In the end, she managed to get through the splits quite well – although it looked like little in the beginning of the exercise.

The alliances in the “arena” of Ukraine were rather unusual – or to put it in political jargon, “unholy”. Like the Greens, the SVP is against re-exports. The SP and FDP, on the other hand, are striving for an amendment to the War Materials Act that would allow re-export.

So it was that the two representatives of the bourgeois parties crossed swords. “The Ukrainians can only defend themselves if they have the right resources,” said Christa Markwalder, national councilor of the FDP. “They are not only defending their country, but also our common values.”

Today, Switzerland is isolated in Europe because it “contemptuously” rejects re-export requests. She doesn’t understand the SVP, who was suddenly against re-exports, said Markwalder and looked reproachfully at her neighbour.

Roland Rino Büchel, representing Switzerland’s largest party, remained calm, as he had done all evening, and objectively explained his position. A pleasant contrast to his fellow party member Thomas Aeschi, who already caused a stir on Twitter because of the guest selection.

Büchel made it clear to the viewer that relatively little Swiss ammunition would end up in Ukraine. “The first request was for 12,400 cartridges. If you shoot at a Cheetah tank for almost 15 minutes, it’s all gone.” The National Council of St. Gallen asked, “Do we want to give up our neutrality?” And immediately replied, “No, I don’t.”

Roger Nordmann, who is in favor of re-exports to Ukraine, sees it differently. “You don’t have to make a legend of neutrality,” said the SP party leader. “The policy of neutrality is a tool, not an obligation.” In the current case, one cannot hide behind neutrality, says Nordmann. “We need to rethink the way we deal with neutrality. We are in the middle of Europe and cannot show solidarity.”

In addition, Switzerland should be strongly involved in humanitarian aid and mine clearance, said the SP man, who is also in favor of expropriating the Russian oligarchs.

But back to Step. In the first 60 minutes of the show, she complained several times that only gun transfers were discussed. Because Switzerland has completely different levers that are much more effective, the Greens argued. That was a bit like whataboutism, to use a trend word from the comment columns. As if she wanted to distract from the guns as quickly as possible, since she knew she could hardly score points there.

A battle with Christa Markwalder symbolized the difficult position of the green politician. Trede tried to explain why neutrality should not be compromised by a “quick shot”. Because a neutral Switzerland could play an important role in the negotiations.

“The problem is, what do we actually want to negotiate?” objected Markwalder, making Trede nod in agreement. A negotiation is a compromise and it is up to Ukraine to say when it is done. Not in Switzerland. “If the Ukrainians are ready to fight for their freedom, then we need to think about how best to support them,” Markwalder said. She is therefore in favor of Switzerland not blocking the weapons already sold.

Trede was eventually relieved with ten minutes remaining. It was no longer about the guns and the Greens could show how their party wants to help Ukraine. “Glencore, based in Zug, made a profit of 17 billion. Profits are so high because of the war and high energy prices,” explains Trede. That is why she advocates a ‘war profit tax’ that ensures that this money flows to Ukraine.

The Greens want to focus on the Swiss financial center and the commodity market in particular. The Greens complained that only 7.5 billion Swiss francs in Russian assets had been frozen. In Switzerland, however, there are 200 billion Swiss francs of Russian money. And further: «Switzerland helped to upgrade the Russian army. 75 percent of the Russian coal trade goes through our country. We would have tremendous leverage there and we really need to talk about that.”

By the end of the show, it became quite clear that Switzerland would hardly have a decisive influence on the war with arms deliveries – “everything will be gone in fifteen minutes.” Re-exports are all about symbolism. However, when it comes to Russian affairs and the fate of the oligarchs, Switzerland plays a vital role. In this area, it could well hurt Putin.

So Trede was right to think it was better to talk about these issues. She therefore became the secret winner of yesterday’s “Arena”.