In the neutral Swiss parliament, a plan to loosen defense material regulations and allow domestic weapons to be brought into Ukraine was discussed, but it failed to pass the threshold of a vote in the House of Representatives.
According to the Swiss Federal Parliament on the 2nd (local time), a motion to amend the War Materials Law was rejected in the House of Representatives vote the previous day with 98 votes against, 75 votes in favor, and two abstentions.
The motion seeks to amend the War Materiel Law to allow the import of Swiss-made weapons into Ukraine. The current Swiss War Materiel Act requires countries that purchase domestically produced munitions to obtain permission from the federal government to re-export them to other countries. In particular, in order to protect the principle of neutrality, re-exports are prohibited to areas where armed conflicts between countries occur.
Switzerland’s successive rejections of Germany’s request to re-export ammunition for self-propelled anti-aircraft guns manufactured in Denmark and Switzerland last year to Ukraine were also based on this law. Western countries have been pressuring Switzerland to allow Swiss-made weapons to be brought into Ukraine as demand for weapons has exceeded expectations due to the protracted war in Ukraine.
Considering this, Switzerland also considered amending the law. The Swiss Senate and House of Representatives security policy committees even agreed to amend the War Materials Act by making an exception to the arms ban. In effect, the intention is to create an exception in the law so as not to block the importation of indigenous weapons into Ukraine.
However, with the House’s rejection, discussions on amending the War Materiel Act are expected to sink below the surface for the time being.
In the vote, it was reported that the Swiss People’s Party with the largest number of seats and the Green Party, the fourth-largest party, opposed the revision of the War Materials Law on the grounds that it would undermine Switzerland’s neutrality.
Reporter Lee Byung-hun [email protected]
[ⓒ 세계일보 & Segye.com, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
Source: 세계일보 by www.segye.com.
*The article has been translated based on the content of 세계일보 by www.segye.com. If there is any problem regarding the content, copyright, please leave a report below the article. We will try to process as quickly as possible to protect the rights of the author. Thank you very much!
*We just want readers to access information more quickly and easily with other multilingual content, instead of information only available in a certain language.
*We always respect the copyright of the content of the author and always include the original link of the source article.If the author disagrees, just leave the report below the article, the article will be edited or deleted at the request of the author. Thanks very much! Best regards!
