The upper House of the Swiss Parliament (the Council of Cantons) has approved an amendment to the law that will allow Switzerland to re-export weapons to Ukraine. This was reported on Wednesday, June 7, on the website of the Swiss Parliament.
"The Council of Cantons wants to allow other countries to transfer military equipment purchased in Switzerland, under certain conditions. He accepted the relevant parliamentary initiative from his Security Policy Commission," the statement reads.
It is clarified that 22 parliamentarians voted for the amendments, 17 opposed them, and four abstained. It is noted that earlier the deputies of the lower house rejected this legislative initiative, now they will have to consider it again.
The Council of Cantons pointed out that "an excessively restrictive attitude to the refusal of re-export is less and less understood abroad." They also fear that the strict regime regarding military equipment "will have consequences for Swiss companies."
According to the text of the legislative initiative, countries that are "committed to the values of Switzerland and have a comparable export control regime are entitled to an easier transfer." We are talking about countries such as Germany, Italy, the USA and Hungary.
On June 2, the lower house of the Swiss parliament voted against the re-export of weapons to Ukraine. 98 members of the lower house voted against, 75 in favor. The main opponent of the proposal was the Swiss People's Party, which holds the majority of seats in the Grand Chamber. The Greens also opposed it.
In May, a parliamentary committee recommended that the committee relax the rules for exporting military equipment to Ukraine. This happened after Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain asked Switzerland to send ammunition and Swiss-made weapons to support Kiev.
On May 1, Switzerland's permanent representative to the UN, Pascal Christine Berisville, said that the re-export of weapons to Ukraine is prohibited by the country's legislation. She noted that the supply of weapons and military materials is not even a matter of neutrality. According to her, such actions are impossible without violating the law.
Back in February, the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, accused Switzerland of losing neutrality. She stated that the official condemnation of the special operation, the support of EU sanctions, the blocking of accounts of individuals and legal entities from the Russian Federation indicate the country's departure from its former neutral status.
Western countries have increased military and financial support for Ukraine against the background of Russia's special operation to protect Donbass, which the Russian authorities announced on February 24, 2022, amid the aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
