2023-06-28 11:05:00
96 Leopard 1 A5 battle tanks currently stored in Italy should not be allowed to be repaired in Germany and then re-exported to Ukraine. The Federal Council has rejected a corresponding request from RUAG.
As with numerous similar applications in recent months, the Federal Council justified its decision with a reference to the applicable law. A sale would contradict the War Material Act in particular and would entail an adjustment of neutrality policy, he writes.
With the rejection of the request, “priority was given to aspects of Switzerland’s policy of neutrality and its reliability as a constitutional state,” it said.
The request for trading in the used and not operational 96 main battle tanks comes from the Swiss armaments group Ruag. He had asked the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) for permission to sell. The Federal Council as a whole made the final negative decision.
Parliament is working on an exemption
The decision is in line with a series of applications that were also rejected by countries that had requested indirect arms deliveries from Swiss war supplies. Germany, for example, wanted to supply Swiss ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft tank to Ukraine.
The Federal Council has strictly adhered to the legal requirements since the beginning of the war – and rejected this and various other requests. He referred to the applicable War Material Act in each case.
According to the responsible parliamentary commissions, the re-export of war material should be possible under certain conditions. The Security Policy Commission of the National Council (SIK-N) is in the process of drafting a law. Many open questions still have to be clarified when the text is being drafted – for example whether a solution would be compatible with neutrality law.
Evergreen War Material Act
The so-called combined approach serves as the basis for further work. This provides that the Federal Council can exceptionally limit a non-re-export declaration to five years in future in individual cases.
Namely, if the country of destination does not seriously violate human rights, there is no risk that the war material will be used once morest the civilian population and if the country of destination is not involved in an internal or international armed conflict.
The re-export of armaments to a belligerent state would be possible if it makes use of its right to self-defense under international law – and this has been established by the UN General Assembly with a two-thirds majority and the UN Security Council with a resolution.
The latter is unlikely due to the permanent members’ right of veto. According to the proposal, the change in the law would also apply retrospectively.
With a new commission motion, the Security Policy Commission of the Council of States (SIK-S) also wants to reverse a tightening of the War Material Act decided in 2021. For example, the Federal Council should be able to deviate from the approval criteria for foreign transactions if there are extraordinary circumstances and this is necessary to protect the country’s foreign or security policy interests.
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