mer, Mar 15th 2023
Swiss President Alain Berset this week put an end to rumors that the neutral country would allow the re-exportation of Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine, despite the pressure from many countries to break its long-standing War Materials Act.
Politically, Bern has taken a somewhat ambiguous position in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On one hand, Switzerland has aligned itself with EU sanctions imposed against Russia for more than a year now. Switzerland has repeatedly voted against Russia in the UN General Assembly. As a result, Moscow has asserted that it no longer regards Switzerland as neutral.
On the other hand, Switzerland has continually blocked weapons exports to Ukraine. And it has refused to allow other NATO countries, such as Spain and Germany, to re-export Swiss-made munitions and armored vehicles to Ukraine. Switzerland’s War Materials Act forbids the country from exporting Swiss-made weapons to another nation that intends to send them into war.
Germany has already pledged to provide Kyiv with Gepard anti-aircraft gun tanks by spring 2023, but securing a supply of the ammunition has proven challenging as Switzerland, which has a stockpile of Gepard ammo, prohibits the sale of it under its War Materials Act.
MORE: How Switzerland came to be at the center of the Russo-Ukrainian war
Switzerland has faced months of criticism for refusing to relax its War Materials Act, most notably from Germany’s defense minister Christine Lambrecht. Since last summer, Lambrecht has been writing angry letters to her Swiss counterpart Viola Amherd, calling for Switzerland to send 12,000 35mm rounds of Swiss-made ammunition for Germany’s Gepard air defense tanks. Switzerland is one of the only countries that makes the ammunition needed for the tanks.
The tanks have been used to defend Ukraine against Russia’s air missile attacks, especially on its Black Sea coast where Ukraine is trying to export wheat. Lambrecht went so far as to accuse Switzerland of aggravating famines in African countries that need Ukrainian wheat. Amherd replied that Germany did not mind Switzerland’s adherence to its neutrality during WWII.
In January, Switzerland’s upper house of Parliament voted to revoke a part of its War Materials Act and allow shipments of arms to other countries who intend to send them onto warring nations, only if the conflict in question has been denounced as violating international law by a two-thirds majority of the UN. But, the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and seven-member governing body of Switzerland must also sign off on the decision.
President Berset says that measure stops with him.
“Swiss weapons must not be used in wars,” Berset said, adding that opponents of his decision are further engaging in “war frenzy,” when they should be calling for a diplomatic solution to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Hours after the interview, Berset admitted to a local newspaper that “war frenzy” was “not the right choice of words.”
“Of course, Ukraine must defend itself with all its strength and support, it has every right to do so in the face of Russia’s unbelievable aggression,” he said Wednesday, adding that Russia “must stop the war, respect international law and human rights and leave Ukrainian territory, as the Federal Council demanded again after the last session.”
A government poll found that just more than half of Swiss residents support relaxing the War Materials act to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia. But Berset says the fate of Ukraine does not depend on Switzerland.
“To claim that Europe’s self-defense depends on the re-export of weapons from Switzerland and to demand that we disregard our existing law does not strike me as appropriate,” Berset said. The president also addressed the comments made by France’s ambassador to Bern alleging that it would be “a problem for Europe” if Switzerland did not comply.
“It is precisely because we are neutral and do not allow the transfer of weapons to war zones that we can do a great deal for this continent,” he said, adding that “pacifism has a bad reputation right now, but warfare is not part of the Swiss DNA.”
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Amherd gave a speech to Swiss military officers over the weekend that the country can no longer afford to “stand on the sidelines.”
In the unlikely event that Berset changes course and that the Swiss Federal Council rules in favor of changing its War Materials Act, it would still require a national voter referendum – which could take months or even a year to arrange.
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