War material: “Lex Ukraine” still has a small chance in Bern

For several weeks, pressure has been mounting on Switzerland to re-export arms purchased by some countries (notably Germany) to Ukraine. The Federal Council responded in the negative, as a very restrictive law in this area was in force. In Bern, the Socialist Party, the Center or the PLR ​​for Switzerland presented several proposals to relax its rules, particularly because of Russian aggression and Ukraine’s right to self-defense.

Earlier in the week, the National Council’s Security Policy Commission began again to find a solution. “The majority of the group is of the opinion that Switzerland should support Ukraine more significantly and thus contribute to European security”. Therefore, it retained its plan to loosen the ban on the re-export of military equipment – “Legs Ukraine” – but narrowly, by 13 to 12 votes. And this, despite the opposition of the State Council’s sister commission. .

A hybrid solution

In this complex file, which will be debated in the second week of the monsoon session in early March, the Committee adopted, by 10 to 12 votes, with 3 abstentions, another parliamentary initiative, mixed with the resolution adopted by the Council. In the states. On the one hand, based on a decision of the Federal Council, the non-re-export declaration may exceptionally be limited to 5 years. On the other hand, re-export of war goods to a country at war is possible. Violation of the prohibition on the use of force must therefore be authorized by a resolution of the United Nations Security Council or by a two-thirds majority of the United Nations General Assembly.

For the Commission’s minority, the solution was inconsistent with Swiss neutrality, except that: “This change poses a problem because the decision of the United Nations General Assembly does not provide legal recognition”. The minority considers that this solution does not solve the problems caused by non-re-export declarations: “The Federal Council must always decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not to approve the requests of countries purchasing Swiss war goods.”.

PLR and UDC are not in the same order

In parliament, the most reluctant to loosen the law on munitions are representatives of the Greens and the UDC, with pacifist arguments in the former and fears of neutrality among the latter. PLR leader Thierry Burkhardt criticizes his capitalist partner: “By refusing to modify the law on war materials, the UDC is initiating the slow death of our arms industry,” he declared in Tamedia newspapers on Tuesday. Without re-exports, “no one will buy Swiss war goods, which puts the survival of Swiss arms companies at risk”.

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