Tension ahead of the National Council debate on the Armed Forces Dispatch
Published: Wednesday, Sep 18th 2024, 04:40
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On Wednesday (today), the National Council will begin discussing the army budget for the next four years. In June, the Council of States increased the budget for the army by four billion francs compared to the Federal Council's proposal. The increase is also likely to find a majority in the National Council - and its counter-financing will lead to heated debates.
In February, the national government presented key figures on the strategic orientation of the armed forces to Parliament for the first time, covering the twelve years up to 2035. At the same time, it submitted the payment framework for the years 2025 to 2028 amounting to CHF 25.8 billion to the National Council and the Council of States.
This was not enough for the Council of States. It wants a payment framework of CHF 29.8 billion. This should ensure that the army budget reaches the target value of one percent of gross domestic product by 2030 and not 2035.
Blockade in the Commission
The National Council's Security Policy Committee (SIK-N) was also in favor of this additional expenditure in principle. As it was unable to agree on how the increase should be financed, it subsequently rejected the federal decree on the army's payment framework for 2025 to 2028, which is part of the army dispatch. This is tantamount to a motion to reject the proposal.
The Council's left-wing party rejects the increase in funding and is calling for the payment framework to be reduced in comparison to the Federal Council's proposal through minority motions.
The most likely scenario is that the National Council will accept the federal decree and approve the increase in the payment framework. In this case, it will have to decide on several financing proposals. The basic question is whether or not to make cuts elsewhere to cover the higher expenditure.
Fund or compensation
The Finance Committee of the National Council (FK-N) would like to reduce the cantons' share of direct federal tax and cut costs for international cooperation and federal personnel. It also hopes to make savings by increasing efficiency in the Armed Forces Defense Group and the Federal Armaments Office (Armasuisse).
The SIK-N, on the other hand, voted by a wafer-thin margin in favor of creating a temporary army fund of CHF 10 billion rather than providing for compensation, with committee president Priska Seiler Graf (SP/ZH) casting the deciding vote. Although the idea subsequently failed in the committee's overall vote, it will be put back on the agenda if the National Council decides to support it.
Fundamental debate on alignment
The Armed Forces Dispatch comprises a total of five federal resolutions. In addition to the payment framework, the key figures on the direction of the army also caused controversy in the committee.
The SIK-N ultimately decided to expand the corresponding federal decree to include the "space" area of action and to give greater weight to the "cyber" area. There are several minority motions on this issue.
The other federal decisions in the 2024 Armed Forces Dispatch, i.e. the procurement of new military equipment, the armaments credit and the DDPS real estate program, are largely undisputed. However, the left opposes the CHF 660 million increase in the armaments credit for ground-based air defense.
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