The Federal Council wants to conclude the procurement contracts for the new fighter jets quickly – even before the people can vote on the initiative against the F-35, which wants to prevent precisely these planes. In an interview, Defense Minister Viola Amherd explains why the procedure is nevertheless democratic and how Switzerland should align itself militarily.
SRF: Madam Federal Councilor, you can buy the F-35 until spring 2023 and don’t have to wait for the referendum on the stop F35 initiative. Isn’t that a disregard for direct democracy?
Viola Amherd: The procurement of combat aircraft went very well in terms of democratic politics. The population has already voted on it, discussed the loan and allowed the Federal Council to buy the planes.
It is more questionable in terms of democratic policy if decisions that have already been legitimized by the people are subsequently questioned.
There were even four types mentioned in the referendum. The Federal Council has now selected one of these types, and that is very democratic. It is more questionable in terms of democratic policy if decisions that have already been legitimized by the people are subsequently questioned.
So you still think the initiative should be withdrawn.
This is a decision of the initiators. But given the situation we are in, with other countries ordering the same aircraft and we risk losing important time and then perhaps being supplied after the other countries: In this situation it would certainly be right to consider whether to withdraw would not have been smarter.
Yesterday, the Federal Council decided to increase army spending by CHF 300 million as early as 2023. What exactly do you want to do with the money?
In recent years we have prioritized various projects and had to put others on hold. So there is a need to catch up. We have projects that are ready and that we can bring forward. For example in the areas of cyber, electromagnetic space, command vehicles and also in the 12 mortars, where we do not have full equipment at the moment. We could follow suit.
We have to look: How far can we go without violating neutrality?
In interviews over the past few days you have indicated that you could envisage closer cooperation with NATO. What forms of cooperation are there that we don’t have yet?
We are already collaborating on the “Partnership for peace” project. If Sweden and Finland now join NATO, they will fall out of this program and only Switzerland, Austria and Ireland will remain as European countries. This reduces the importance of this cooperation project and we have to look: What other forms of cooperation are there? For example exercises that we could do together. How far can we go without violating neutrality?
The interview was conducted by Urs Leuthard.
You can see more on the subject tonight at 9:50 p.m. on the show “10 vor 10” on SRF1.