Two months ago, the new Defense Minister of Switzerland was little chance to secure a federal government as an outsider.
But Martin Pfister, a colonel of the army and cantonal minister, who works for further defense cooperation NATO And EU neighbor will take office next month after defeating a more conservative rival at the beginning of this week.
Cooperation and joint training exercises with NATO, of which Switzerland If there is no member, Pfister said in the past month and added that he did not urge the defense alliance to become a member, for which it was not important for which it was not important Europe security.
In his appointment, it is emphasized how even neutral Switzerland feels urgency to strengthen their defense, since US President Donald Trump threatens the American guarantees that have long since underpinned the security of the continent and the security of the Alpine Nation.
In a press conference after the vote on Thursday, Pfister said that NATO “changed, we do not know in which direction”. Interoperability and cooperation with European countries are crucial, “if security is important to us,” he added.
Any displacement in Switzerland’s neutrality position would require a referendum and constitutional changes – a process that could take years.
However, the discussions took place on several levels of government, which could lead to a dramatic change in a country, the identity of which, according to experts, is deeply intertwined with neutrality.
“I have never seen a scenario that represents the situation in which we are,” said Jean-Marc Rickli, head of global and emerging risks at the Geneva Center for Security Policy.
“There were ups and downs in transatlantic relationships, but the USA showed possible dismissal from Europe and on the side of Russia. . . has sent shock waves through Europe including Switzerland. ”
A similar view is represented by Matthias Zoller, Secretary General of the Department of Air and Lobby Group of the Industry and Lobby Group.
“There is a feeling of urgency that wasn’t there,” said Zoller. “After all, both sides – both the parliament and the government – see that there is something to do and change.”
According to a study published last summer by the Military Academy of ETH Zurich and the Center for Security Studies, the public mood has shifted towards more security cooperation with European neighbors.
The study showed that 53 percent of those surveyed for closer relationships with NATO were the 10-year average of around 43 percent on this question. Only 30 percent wanted to join the alliance, but that was still higher than the 10-year average of 23 percent.
Zoller, who took part in a hearing with Pfister before his appointment, said the new Minister of Defense understands that we have to work with our neighbors.
One of the early tasks of Pfister after taking office on April 1 will be to create the country’s first national security strategy that could arise until summer.
Discussions about the security strategy “will take place with a growing feeling of urgency, which is a good thing,” said Daniel Möckli, who heads the thought factory at the CSS at ETH Zurich, some of which is financed by the Ministry of Defense.
“The formal security strategy for the formal design will be the first of its kind and define our goals. There should be an idea of where the government wants to bring the country. “
Changes to the export regulations are also taken into account. Bern prohibits arms exports when the target country is involved in wars in Germany or abroad, including Ukraine.
The rules in Europe were dissatisfaction, especially for countries such as Germany that were no longer allowed to export Swiss weapons to Ukraine.
That could change under Pfister.
“Martin Pfister confirmed that he would fight for the relaxation of the export restrictions for Swiss war material and systems,” said Stefan Stickenstein, a colonel of the Swiss army general staff, which carried out the association of Switzerland in the military societies.
At the beginning of this month, Holenstein Pfister and his competing candidate Markus Ritter, head of the lobby of the Swiss farmer, invited to a hearing with representatives of the military and defense industry in Bern.
While Switzerland stands for eternal armed neutrality, Tönststein said: “This does not mean for us and also for Martin, and he did not emphasize this, it does not mean that the European security architecture means strict isolation or strict non -cooperation.”
According to Gollenstein, further expectations of the military industry were essentially the budget of the army and the structure of the Swiss armaments industry.
Switzerland aims to achieve 1 percent of its GDP for defense of 0.7 percent in the previous year by 2030. This is much less than the goals of other European nations: the 2 percent of NATO’s expenditure is expected to increase at a summit to 3 or 3.5 percent in June, while Trump insisted that European allies should pay 5 percent of GDP.
It must also be possible to expand the interoperability of the armed forces, said Toberenstein and showed Swiss soil soldiers in the way to Austria next month – also neutral land – to train with Austrian and German troops. It will be the first military exercises in Switzerland since 2003 on foreign soil.
But accelerated for all the obvious swing in Switzerland EuropeanOthers warned that a strategy change could take years.
There are also strong forces that want to have strengthened neutrality. After the full invasion of Ukraine in Russia in 2022, Switzerland adopted sanctions with the EU, Great Britain and the USA. But since then, activists and some right politicians have tried to force the end of the economic restrictions by defining the long -held neutrality of the country in the constitution.
A Swiss official said: “You have enormous differences between those in the Federal Council, let alone the parliament and the public, in the future direction of Switzerland. And it’s always about finding a consensus here and we are far from. “
“I would not stop my breath in this or even next year to achieve big changes.”
