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Arms exports to UkraineIn New York, Berset defends Switzerland’s “very cautious and moderate” position
The debate on neutrality was invited during a press conference by the President of the Confederation on the sidelines of meetings on women’s rights at the United Nations.
Alain Berset at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
REUTERS
Faced with the Ukrainian conflict, Switzerland intends to preserve its neutrality provided for by its Constitution and therefore remains opposed for the moment to the transfer of armaments to this country at war, said Tuesday Alain Berset, visiting the UN. “The debate on arms exports, as long as we have a legal framework in Switzerland, it is not possible to do it (…). For the government and the Federal Council, we must and we want to maintain this legal framework and work within this framework”, declared the President of the Confederation to journalists on the sidelines of meetings at the United Nations on women’s rights.
The Fribourgeois was questioned regarding the fact that Germany asked Bern at the end of February to authorize the recovery of old Leopard tanks by the German arms group Rheinmetall, guaranteeing that they would not be transferred to Ukraine.
Neutrality debate
The debate on neutrality has been agitating the country since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Switzerland has adopted all the sanctions taken by Brussels once morest Moscow because “these sanctions are absolutely compatible with neutrality”, assured Alain Berset .
Although pressed by kyiv and its allies to allow the re-export of Swiss arms and ammunition to Kiev, Bern has so far brushed off requests from Germany, Spain and Denmark. Various initiatives are underway in Parliament to relax these rules, but no decision is expected for several months.
For Mr. Berset, who met in New York with the UN Secretary General just before Antonio Guterres left for Ukraine, “Parliament has many possibilities to change the laws”. So, “if Parliament agreed to modify the legal framework (of military neutrality) we would work in this new context”. But “this is not the time to change and we cannot make exceptions”, insisted Alain Berset, defending the traditional “very cautious and moderate” position of Switzerland.
(AFP/mst)