- The Security Policy Commission of the National Council (SiK-NR) wants more money for the army.
- With a motion, the SiK wants to call on the Federal Council to act. The President of the Finance Commission finds the procedure problematic.
- Should Parliament want to increase the army budget, it will only be possible at the expense of other spending.
New artillery howitzers, main battle tanks or shoulder-launched anti-aircraft guided missiles – the list of new weapon systems that the Swiss army wants to procure in the next few years is long. There may soon be significantly more money for this.
In any case, if the majority of the Security Policy Committee of the National Council has its way. Mauro Tuena from the SVP is its president. He says the majority of the commission is concerned about Ukraine, whether the army has enough resources to defend itself.
Legend:
In view of the Ukraine war, the SiK wants to increase the army budget to 1 percent of gross domestic product by 2030. It is currently around 0.8 percent of GDP. Depending on the method of calculation, that would be an increase from the current CHF 5 billion to CHF 7 to 7.5 billion.
key stone
The army is already receiving more money each year, at 1.4 percent each year. But the Security Policy Commission of the National Council also wants to invest more money in the army and in new weapon systems. By 2030, the army should have a budget of one percent of gross domestic product. That would be the specification of the National Council Commission.
If the army’s funds are increased, then savings must be made on other expenses.
An increase in the annual budget by an estimated two billion francs sounds like little given the around 80 billion that the federal government spends annually. But an increase in the army will necessarily have to be at the expense of other state tasks, warns the President of the Finance Committee of the National Council, the Green Liberal Roland Fischer.
The debt brake requires that expenditure should not be higher than income in the medium to long term. “That automatically means that if the army’s funds are increased, then other expenses must be saved.”
Saving with the farmers or education?
If you have to save, the so-called untied or weakly tied expenses are the focus. These are expenses for which there is no direct legal mandate to spend certain sums. These are budget items such as culture, education, development cooperation or agriculture.
It is up to the Finance Commission to distribute the funds fairly, so that national defense benefits from these 7 billion francs.
Less direct payments to the farmers, but more arms spending? The President of the Security Policy Commission, Mauro Tuena, says it is then up to other commissions to determine exactly where savings are to be made. “It is up to the Finance Commission to distribute the funds fairly, so that national defense benefits from these 7 billion francs.”
The distribution battles have begun
The President of the Finance Commission, on the other hand, would first like to know what the army actually needs before deciding on more money. Roland Fischer says that from a financial policy point of view it is always tricky when money is talked about because the fundamentals are not secure. “There is a risk of making bad investments,” says the GLP National Council.
Should Parliament want to increase the army budget, it will only be possible at the expense of other spending. Which in turn will lead to fierce budget distribution battles.