A month ago, Beat Wittmann preempted on finews.first the dismantling of Army Chief Thomas Süssli by the Federal Council. Meanwhile, Switzerland is experiencing a worrisome crisis that would provide enough material for a Netflix series. In this convoluted situation, Wittmann concludes in his latest contribution that there is only one viable way forward.
Within just a few weeks, Switzerland has plunged into a domestic political crisis, marked by the premature resignations of the Minister of Defense, the Army Chief, and the head of the Federal Intelligence Service (NDB).
The national security of Switzerland – namely, both external and internal security – was not guaranteed even before this debacle and now stands on the brink of collapse. The entire Federal Council is directly responsible, with its ongoing denial of security policy realities and its flagrant leadership failures.
But that is not all – the security policy debate in Switzerland remains dominated by an ever-widening mudslinging battle of intrigues, blame-shifting, narrow interests, vendettas, and leaks that could at any moment serve as the basis for a blockbuster Netflix series.
Europe and Switzerland – Confronted by Trump and Putin
The NDB’s report, «Security Switzerland 2024,» dated October 22, 2024, correctly and aptly states: «The security policy environment of Switzerland is deteriorating year by year,» and adds, «It is imperative to identify and assess threats and relevant changes in Switzerland’s strategic environment in time and then take the necessary preventive measures.»
Meanwhile, the US administration under Donald Trump has not only abandoned multilateralism but also the European security architecture, despises the EU as an economic and regulatory power and has sided with the military aggressor Russia. And as, on the occasion of the Munich Security Conference, Swiss Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter – displaying a fawning attitude – managed to find something positive in the anti-Europe and pro-Russia speech of US Vice President JD Vance, it undermines the credibility and interests of Switzerland.
Switzerland in the Eye of the Storm?!
Swiss politics continue to indulge in a deceptive calm and self-absorbed focus on security policy. However, the escalating external reality is not only radically different but is also continuously worsening for Switzerland – politically, economically, and militarily.
The direct and immediate consequence of the US’ security policy retreat from Europe is the urgent need for rapid and significantly higher spending and investment in European defense – from the current average of 2 percent of GDP to at least 3 percent and up to 5 percent of GDP.
Switzerland, as a globalized small state located at the heart of Europe, with its defense spending currently at only 0.8 percent of GDP, finds itself as the extreme outsider and, by far, the biggest free rider in European security policy – a situation that will soon become completely untenable.
European Defense: With or Without the US
Friedrich Merz, the German electoral winner and prospective next Chancellor, has made it unequivocal that an independent Europe from the US is his «absolute priority» and that Europe must be capable of defending itself against Russia – with or without the US.
NATO, Germany, Poland, Denmark, and the Baltic states assess that a Russian attack on a European country is possible within as little as three years. This March, the EU will publish a White Paper on the future of European defense and will subsequently launch several initiatives focused on pan-European financing and the procurement of armaments.
No National Security Without Financing and International Cooperation
Switzerland is exposed to dangerous exogenous risks in a dramatically deteriorating geopolitical environment – risks it can scarcely influence. In this context, it is particularly severe and irresponsible that the Federal Council has neither formulated nor pursued a national security strategy, nor a growth and fiscal strategy.
In doing so, the government is failing to fulfill its comprehensive responsibility and is instead managing narrowly defined departmental interests. This is particularly critical in relation to the under-equipped and unprepared army – especially concerning financing and international cooperation with the EU and NATO.
Defense Bonds: A Simple and Attractive Option
The disruptive and normative force of reality will dictate that Switzerland must raise financial resources for its army much more quickly and significantly than the currently planned 1 percent of GDP by 2032. The «Gaillard austerity plan» will be far from sufficient; hence, it is necessary to reform the debt brake and tap into the capital markets – an approach that could be realized simply and attractively through the issuance of Defense Bonds.
The new security conflict in Europe is transnational, encompassing both traditional and hybrid warfare. Switzerland is an integral part of the Western community of values and interests, and it is indispensably dependent on close cooperation with the EU and NATO.
Parliamentary Investigation Commission Due to a Security and Trust Crisis
Ensuring national security is a constitutional mandate, yet the government and parliament are failing to meet this responsibility, thereby endangering Switzerland’s sovereignty, prosperity, and prospects.
But that is not all – after national-conservative politicians managed to ruin and dismantle the army over three decades by slashing its budget and wearing down the current defense leadership until their resignations, the strategy remains aimless and without vision, relying instead on isolation, political maneuvering, waiting it out, and muddling through.
Severe Shortcomings at Ruag
In this convoluted situation, there is only one viable way forward: to establish transparency regarding the causes and reasons, identify those responsible, and hold them accountable. The report from the financial control body on a scandalous fraud case and severe deficiencies at the Federal defense company Ruag is a long-overdue and correct step.
The establishment of a parliamentary investigation commission (PUK) is necessary, as it would both restore the lost trust in the critically important state security apparatus and create the conditions for the successful rehabilitation of national defense.
In this context, one is reminded of the Mirage affair in the early 1960s, which was examined by the first PUK in Swiss history and led to three of its members—Kurt Furgler, Rudolf Gnägi, and Pierre Graber –later becoming Federal Councilors. It must be noted that today’s shortcomings are significantly more severe than they were then, and there is thus an immediate and pressing need for action.
Beat Wittmann served for many years as a lieutenant colonel in the Swiss Military Intelligence Service at Army Headquarters in Bern.
Professionally, he has been Chairman and Partner at Zurich-based financial advisory firm Porta Advisors for over eight years. The Grisons native has more than 30 years of experience in Swiss banking, including positions at UBS, Credit Suisse, Clariden Leu, and Julius Bär. Between 2009 and 2015, he worked independently and later for the Swiss Raiffeisen Group in asset management.
Previous texts by: Rudi Bogni, Rolf Banz, Werner Vogt, Walter Wittmann, Alfred Mettler, Robert Holzach, Craig Murray, David Zollinger, Arthur Bolliger, Beat Kappeler, Chris Rowe, Stefan Gerlach, Nuno Fernandes, Richard Egger, Dieter Ruloff, Marco Bargel, Steve Hanke, Urs Schoettli, Maurice Pedergnana, Stefan Kreuzkamp, Oliver Bussmann, Michael Benz, Albert Steck, Martin Dahinden, Thomas Fedier, Alfred Mettler, Brigitte Strebel, Mirjam Staub-Bisang, Kim Iskyan, Stephen Dover, Denise Kenyon-Rouvinez, Christian Dreyer, Kinan Khadam-Al-Jame, Robert Hemmi, Anton Affentranger, Yves Mirabaud, Hans-Martin Kraus, Gérard Guerdat, Mario Bassi, Stephen Thariyan, Dan Steinbock, Rino Borini, Bert Flossbach, Michael Hasenstab, Guido Schilling, Werner E. Rutsch, Dorte Bech Vizard, Maya Bhandari, Jean Tirole, Hans Jakob Roth, Marco Martinelli, Thomas Sutter, Tom King, Werner Peyer, Thomas Kupfer, Peter Kurer, Arturo Bris, Frédéric Papp, James Syme, Dennis Larsen, Bernd Kramer, Armin Jans, Nicolas Roth, Hans Ulrich Jost, Patrick Hunger, Fabrizio Quirighetti, Claire Shaw, Peter Fanconi, Alex Wolf, Dan Steinbock, Patrick Scheurle, Sandro Occhilupo, Will Ballard, Nicholas Yeo, Claude-Alain Margelisch, Jean-François Hirschel, Jens Pongratz, Samuel Gerber, Philipp Weckherlin, Anne Richards, Antoni Trenchev, Benoit Barbereau, Pascal R. Bersier, Shaul Lifshitz, Ana Botín, Martin Gilbert, Jesper Koll, Ingo Rauser, Carlo Capaul, Markus Winkler, Thomas Steinemann, Christina Böck, Guillaume Compeyron, Miro Zivkovic, Alexander F. Wagner, Eric Heymann, Christoph Sax, Felix Brem, Jochen Möbert, Ursula Finsterwald, Michel Longhini, Stefan Blum, Nicolas Ramelet, Søren Bjønness, Gilles Prince, Shanu Hinduja, Salman Ahmed, Peter van der Welle, Ken Orchard, Christian Gast, Jürgen Braunstein, Jeffrey Vögeli, Fiona Frick, Stefan Schneider, Matthias Hunn, Andreas Vetsch, Mark Hawtin, Fabiana Fedeli, Kim Fournais, Carole Millet, Swetha Ramachandran, Thomas Stucki, Neil Shearing, Tom Naratil, Oliver Berger, Robert Sharps, Tobias Müller, Florian Wicki, Jean Keller, Niels Lan Doky, Johnny El Hachem, Judith Basad, Katharina Bart, Thorsten Polleit, Peter Schmid, Karam Hinduja, Zsolt Kohalmi, Raphaël Surber, Santosh Brivio, Mark Urquhart, Bruno Capone, Peter Hody, Agniszka Walorska, Thomas Müller, Ebrahim Attarzadeh, Marcel Hostettler, Hui Zhang, Angela Agostini, Guy de Blonay, Tatjana Greil Castro, Jean-Baptiste Berthon, Dietrich Grönemeyer, Mobeen Tahir, Didier Saint-Georges, Serge Tabachnik, Vega Ibanez, David Folkerts-Landau, Michael Welti, Mihkel Vitsur, Roman Balzan, Todd Saligman, Stuart Dunbar, Carina Schaurte, Birte Orth-Freese, Gun Woo, Lamara von Albertini, Ramon Vogt, Andrea Hoffmann, Niccolò Garzelli, Darren Williams, Benjamin Böhner, Mike Judith, Jared Cook, Henk Grootveld, Roman Gaus, Nicolas Faller, Anna Stünzi, Thomas Höhne-Sparborth, Fabrizio Pagani, Guy de Blonay, Jan Boudewijns, Sean Hagerty, Alina Donets, Sébastien Galy, Roman von Ah, Fernando Fernández, Georg von Wyss, Stefan Bannwart, Andreas Britt, Frédéric Leroux, Nick Platjouw, Rolando Grandi, Philipp Kaupke, Gérard Piasko, Brad Slingerlend, Dieter Wermuth, Grégoire Bordier, Gianluca Gerosa, Michael Bornhäusser, Christine Houston, Manuel Romera Robles, Fabian Käslin, Claudia Kraaz, Marco Huwiler, Lukas Zihlmann, Sherif Mamdouh, Harald Preissler, Taimur Hyat, Philipp Cottier, Andreas Herrmann, Camille Vial, Marcus Hüttinger, Serge Beck, Alannah Beer, Stéphane Monier, Ashley Semmens, Lars Jaeger, Shanna Strauss-Frank, Bertrand Binggeli, Marionna Wegenstein, Jian Shi Cortesi, Razan Nasser, Nicolas Forest, Jörg Rütschi, Reto Jauch, Bernardo Brunschwiler, Charles-Henry Monchau, Nicolas Ramelet, Ha Duong, Teodoro Cocca, Jan Brzezek, Nicolas Mousset, Beat Weiss, Pascal Mischler, Andrew Isbester, Konrad Hummler, Jan Beckers, Martin Velten, Katharine Neiss, Claude Baumann, Daniel Roarty, Kubilaqy Yalcin, Robert Almeida, Karin M. Klossek, Marc Taverner, Charlie T. Munger, Daniel Kobler, Patrick Stauber, Anna Rosenberg, Judith Wallenstein, Adriano Lucatelli, Daniel Goleman, Val Olson, Brice Prunas, Frances Weir, Luis Maldonado, Nadège Lesueur-Pène, Massimo Pedrazzini, Eric Sarasin, Dina Ting, Christopher Gannatti, Shaniel Ramjee, Mihkel Vitsur, Nannette Hechler-Fayd'herbe, Ralph Ebert, Mark Denham, Francesco Mandalà, Mariolina Esposito, Maryann Umoren Selfe, Dominique Gerster, Christian Kälin, Nadège Dufossé, Benjamin Melman, Florin Baeriswyl, Marc Reinhardt, Thomas Holderegger, Bruno Cavalier, Gary Burnison, Louise Curran, Adrian Cox, Philip Adler, Serge Fehr, Marc Lussy, Axel Brosey, Colin Vidal, Vivien Jain, Ralf Zellweger, Maria Vassalou, Nico Fiore, Gary Burnison, Thomas Signer, Andreas Ita, Leon Curti, Remo Badertscher, Alexis Marinof, Olivier Kessler, Jacques Aurélien Marcireau, Patricia Ordody, Marc Palahi, Francesco Magistra, George Muzinich, Beat Wittmann, Tanvi Singh, Brigitte Kaps, and Dominique Gerster.
