On Wednesday the House of Representatives followed the Senate in setting the minimum number of troops at 25 per cent higher than the figure proposed by the cabinet.
A majority of centre-right and rightwing parties argued that the country’s prosperity and security depended on having forces of a sufficient size.
However, their opponents on the left rejected their scenarios of a conventional military attack on Switzerland.
The chambers still disagree with each other over the details of the annual military budget and funding for 22 fighter jets to replace the current Tiger aircraft.
The government has proposed an annual military budget of SFr4.4 billion ($5.0 billion) but its wants to delay the purchase of aircraft for a few years.
The pacifist group, Switzerland without an Army, said it was considering plans to launch a new initiative next year to let voters have the final say on new fighter jets.
Since 1990 the army has been cut from 625,000 to 200,000.
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Defence ministry denied extra funds for army
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The army will consist of 80,000 troops, including 35,000 members of the infantry, from a total of 140,000. The number of troops for international peacekeeping operations is set at 1,000. Defence Minister Ueli Maurer said the cabinet had mandated him to seek ways to save SFr1.1 billion through changes in military training, lowering technological standards,…
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Defence minister Ueli Maurer has asked army chief André Blattmann to study various cost-cutting strategies to comply with government’s recommendations on saving. The defence ministry, which also covers sports and civil protection, could also cut up to 2,500 jobs. Blattmann said the army was obliged to “reconsider everything”, even what has not been disputed until…
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The government confirmed it planned to replace 54 “obsolete” planes but has postponed the purchase until 2015 at the latest, at the recommendation of Defence Minister Ueli Maurer. Some jets in the Tiger fleet are over 30 years old. Buying 22 new planes would have cost up to SFr4.8 billion ($4.6 billion). In a statement,…
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The lack of clarity about the future of the army is currently casting its shadow on parliamentary debates about the basically uncontroversial 2010 armaments programme, which envisages a partial renewal of the aged air fleet. Defence Minister Ueli Maurer of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party said in spring 2009 that he wanted to make the…
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Operation Zeus is underway in French-speaking Switzerland. Its mission is to stabilise, pacify, and protect a region under threat. (Julie Hunt, swssinfo.ch)
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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.