An expert working group on security issues in Switzerland, created by the Ministry of Defense, has proposed that the government reconsider neutrality in favor of military cooperation with NATO and the European Union.
Diplomats, high-ranking officials, the military, and Wolfgang Ischinger, who chaired the international Munich Security Conference for many years, worked on the report. The recommendations will form the basis of Switzerland’s security strategy for 2025.
The report’s authors recommend lifting the ban on arms re-export. Currently, Bern prohibits the sale of weapons to countries at war. As a result, arms exports fell by 27% last year to less than €746 million. This has also affected Switzerland’s relations with other countries that would like to send weapons with Swiss components to Ukraine but cannot.
The experts do not suggest that Switzerland completely abandon its neutrality and join NATO but call for deepening ties with the Alliance and the EU for joint training, ballistic missile defense, and bilateral and multilateral exercises. The report also calls for increasing military spending to 1% of GDP by 2030. Currently, Switzerland spends 0.76% of GDP on defense.
The report will likely face resistance in the Swiss parliament, especially from pacifist left-wing parties and the nationalist far right. Swiss President Viola Amgerd has long been criticized for the country’s increasingly close ties to NATO.