2023-08-20 19:00:35
Viola Amherd’s political comeback might be complicated. The Federal Councilor in charge of Defense is heard Monday by a parliamentary committee on her role in the Ruag affair as well as on the attempt to sell Leopard tanks to the German arms group Rheinmetall.
After having faced the roofs battered by the hurricane in La Chaux-de-Fonds this week, Viola Amherd is preparing to face another storm on Monday in Zurich.
The Parliament’s Security Policy Committee has several questions to ask the Valais Federal Councilor. The resignation of the director of Ruag and the attempt to sell the Leopard tanks to the German armament group Rheinmetall should in particular be addressed.
>> Read once more: Ruag director resigns following arms export controversy et Switzerland supports sending 25 decommissioned Leopard tanks to Germany
“We are going to talk regarding Ruag, we are going to talk regarding the strategic axes which are given by the Federal Council for this arms company linked to the Confederation. I hope that it will have frank communication”, explained Sunday in the 7:30 p.m. François Pointet, National Liberal Liberal Councilor from Vaud.
many questions
The commission would like to know why Brigitte Beck, the director of Ruag, resigned on August 13? Did it serve as a fuse? Was Viola Amherd aware of Ruag’s intentions to sell the German group Rheinmetall its old Leopard tanks stored in Italy? Did Viola Amherd want to defy the ban on re-exporting weapons?
For the moment, Viola Amherd has not spoken on the subject. Several parliamentarians find it hard to believe that she was unaware.
Federal Councilor for Defense Viola Amherd. [Alessandro della Valle – Keystone]
For Jean-Luc Addor, national councilor UDC Valais “we can assume the hypothesis that the boss of Ruag shared the views of Viola Amherd”.
For her part, Franziska Roth, Socialist National Councilor from Solothurn, believes that a representative of the Federal Council should sit on Ruag’s board of directors. She also thinks that the management committee should take up these issues. “In a report, there was an agreement between the head of Ruag and the Department of Defense regarding the deal with these tanks. It is important to me that the management committee takes care of this and determines whether we have not sent Ruag’s headmistress to hell.”
A delay for the F35s that might be expensive
Viola Amherd is also involved in other cases. This week, we learned that there might be a delay in the delivery of the F-35s. In the meantime, the old FA-18s would have to be patched up and this might be very expensive for Swiss taxpayers.
There is also the Sky Shield anti-missile shield. The Federal Councilor signed at the beginning of the summer an agreement with Germany and Austria to imagine a common defense, without taking the trouble to warn Parliament.
“She is a skilful tactician and a skilful politician. She lacks the courage to communicate her vision in a frank and clear way, she backpedals a lot when she sees that it does not pass, it’s a bit of a shame”, concludes François Pointet.
Viola Amherd weakened?
These files do not seem to weaken Viola Amherd for the moment. Her overall record remains crowned with several feats of arms, in particular the purchase of combat planes and the creation of a center dedicated to cybersecurity, not to mention that she is the most popular federal councilor in the polls.
But the issue of tanks is very delicate once morest the backdrop of Switzerland’s neutrality and its arms export policy.
When Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and Albert Rösti joined the Federal Council at the start of the year, Viola Amherd chose to remain at the head of Defense when she might have changed positions. But his department has become more exposed, with the war in Ukraine and the desire to collaborate more with foreign armies.
>> Forum explanations:
Ruag case: Viola Amherd’s political comeback promises to be complicated / Forum / 3 min. / today at 20:17
TV and radio subject: Thierry Clémence and Julien Bangerter
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