Swiss Finance Commission deems no need for military finance measures

At the end of January, Swiss public television SRF reported an internal administrative document stating that the Swiss military would be short 1.4 billion Swiss francs ($1.6 billion) by the end of 2025 to pay for defense purchases it had already made. . The next day, Army Commander Thomas Schussli said the Army does not have a financial shortfall, but rather a liquidity bottleneck.

Defense Minister Viola Amherd, who is Switzerland’s rotating president this year, spoke in detail about the matter for the first time this week. She contradicted the military commander in many ways. For example, the statement that the military cannot pay its bills is false.

These contradictory statements prompted the Senate Security Policy Committee and the House Finance Committee to discuss military documents on Friday. Mr. Amheld, Mr. Shusli and other responsible representatives of the authorities were heard by the Committee.

transparency and openness

“Information was provided today with great transparency and openness,” Finance Committee Chair Sarah Wyss told the media at Federal Palace. All unanswered questions are now clear. The Finance Committee will take no further action.

However, it was made “clear” to the MoD that there had been insufficient communication on the issue. “A mistake was made,” Wyss said. Defense Minister Amheld was well aware that “something like this must never happen again.”

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Communication deficiencies can be attributed to military commander Shusli, who spoke to the media multiple times about liquidity bottlenecks, especially in the days following the SRF investigation. Internal military documents cited by SRF also mention liquidity bottlenecks. Wyss said the written and oral statements were “inaccurate.”

Wiss said there was a misunderstanding in communication that could not be resolved. However, the situation is now clear. He said there is “no financial disparity in the military, no liquidity bottlenecks.” From a monetary policy perspective, “all is well” and “everything is right”.

Caused by lack of communication

Mr. Amheld’s statement to the Finance Committee said the military would be able to meet all of its contractual obligations. But Congress has extended military funding increases to 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) from 2030 to 2035, necessitating what Wyss calls a “change of plans.” Negotiations with providers need to be renegotiated and projects reprioritized.

“But the Department of Defense has made it clear that it is within budget,” Wyss said. This information from the Ministry of Defense was recognized by the Treasury Committee as “transparent and reliable”.

Wyss said it was a political decision whether more funding should be made available to the military to fill capability gaps. The Finance Committee did not discuss this matter. The decision was made by the Security Policy Committee.

Mr Wyss told the media he regretted that the military’s lack of communication had caused anxiety. However, for the time being, this document was closed to her committee.

Translated from German by DeepL/amva