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Swiss government wants more leeway to export war materiel

Federal Council wants more leeway for the export of war material
Federal Council wants more leeway for the export of war material Keystone-SDA

The Swiss parliament will decide on whether the government is to be given more leeway in authorising exports of war materiel if the situation requires it.

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Parliament can now decide on this controversial amendment to the War Materiel Act.

The government adopted the dispatch to the two chambers of parliament on Wednesday. With the amendment to the law, it wants to maintain room for manoeuvre in order to be able to adapt the export policy for war materiel to changing geopolitical circumstances. In this way, it wants to safeguard Switzerland’s domestic and foreign policy interests.

+ Swiss politicians divided on re-export of war materiel

However, the government is also thinking about the armaments industry: by making it more flexible, it would be possible to maintain an industrial capacity in Switzerland that is adapted to the needs of national defence, it writes.

The proposed amendment to the law is intended to implement a parliamentary demand. In the consultation process, the project was welcomed by the majority, the government wrote. However, the positions of the opponents and supporters of the amendment differed diametrically.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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