The head of armasuisse, Urs Loher, signed the memorandum of understanding and the declaration of Switzerland’s unilateral accession on Thursday.
The Swiss government had decided to join European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) last April. The Foreign Policy and Security Policy Committees approved the decision. Lohrer signed the membership application and a supplementary declaration on reservations relating to the law of neutrality at the beginning of July.
The latter allows Switzerland to withdraw from cooperation on the grounds of neutrality if a member of the initiative becomes involved in an international armed conflict. The member states of the initiative have given their agreement, armasuisse announced on Friday.
More
More
European Sky Shield: what’s at stake for Switzerland?
This content was published on
The Swiss government approved Switzerland’s participation in the European Sky Shield Initiative. What is the initiative and Switzerland’s role in it?
Joining ESSI will enable Switzerland to better coordinate procurement projects, training and logistics in the field of ground-air defense, armasuisse’s CEO said in a media interview on Friday. Purchasing costs will be reduced, as will delivery times, said Loher.
Switzerland will also be able to use training facilities abroad, particularly in northern Germany. In addition, joint procurement will increase the ability of European armies to cooperate in the event of conflict in Europe. If necessary, Switzerland will be able to defend itself in collaboration with other countries.
Adapted from French by DeepL/ac
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
What factors should be taken into account when inheriting Swiss citizenship abroad?
Should there be a limit to the passing on of Swiss citizenship? Or is the current practice too strict and it should still be possible to register after the age of 25?
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
This content was published on
The Trump administration has imposed a 31% tariff on imports from Switzerland. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter has warned against "giving in to alarmism" in an interview published on Saturday,
This content was published on
Scientists have shown that bonobos combine their calls into complex sound sequences that resemble combinations of human words.
This content was published on
US parliamentarians have threatened the UN Human Rights Council with sanctions similar to those against the International Criminal Court (ICC).
This content was published on
Thanks to abundant snowfall, lift operators benefited from increased visitor numbers, with the number of guests jumping by 12% year-on-year.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.