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Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
A long-running debate on the export of Swiss war materiel once again took centre stage in today’s parliamentary winter session.
Also, the head of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has defended the delegation of Swiss business leaders who reportedly presented US President Donald Trump with a Rolex and a gold bar, saying she is personally pleased with an entrepreneurial spirit that “steps in when the country needs it”.
Sunny regards from Bern.
The House of Representatives debated and approved the amendments to the War Materiel Act during the second day of the parliamentary winter session.
Parliament wants to give the Swiss government the authority to approve arms exports.
This is in the interests of the Swiss arms industry, which has become increasingly isolated internationally after Switzerland prohibited other countries from transferring Swiss products to Ukraine. But supplying war materiel to conflict states raises the central question of how this aligns with neutrality. The planned relaxation targets members of defence alliance NATO – all states would, in principle, be free to transfer arms as they see fit. However, the Swiss government could require a guarantee in individual cases for reasons of neutrality, security, or foreign policy.
The right-wing Swiss People’s Party supported the reform on condition that no weapons be allowed to reach Ukraine. Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported that the focus is shifting away from supplying Ukraine and towards strengthening Switzerland’s domestic arms industry.
The wording of the relaxation proposal is “very strange”, Robert Kolb, professor of international law at the University of Geneva, told the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ). Switzerland cannot supply countries involved in an international conflict, regardless of any list. “That is the core of the law of neutrality,” he said.
The bill now goes back to the Senate once more. The left-wing Social Democratic Party and the Greens have already announced that they will seek a referendum should parliament approve the reform, in which case the proposal would be put to a nationwide vote.
Helene Budliger Artieda, head of the State Secretary for Economic Affairs (SECO), has defended the much-criticised meeting between Swiss business leaders and US President Donald Trump.
Budliger Artieda told the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) that SECO had been informed about the gifts, including a Rolex table clock and a gold bar, that were presented during the trip, but she said that her department “deliberately did not get involved”. She stressed that the visit was a private initiative and that the delegation was not part of official tariff negotiations.
The gifts triggered criticism, and the Office of the Attorney General has received three criminal complaints against unknown persons over the meeting. Because of these ongoing proceedings, Budliger Artieda did not comment on the allegations. However, she welcomed the entrepreneurs’ initiative. “Personally, I am very pleased that there is an entrepreneurial spirit in this country that is ready to help when the country needs it, that also takes risks,” she told the NZZ.
According to her, entrepreneurs credibly demonstrated to Trump how Swiss investments of CHF200 billion ($248.5 billion) in the US over the next five years could help reduce the American trade deficit.
Asked whether Trump could reintroduce 39% tariffs if Switzerland refused to approve imports of chlorinated chicken, Budliger Artieda said the risk applied to all countries. “That’s the new reality. Donald Trump is determined to reorganise global trade through the weight of the US.”
Mattea Meyer, co-president of the left-wing Social Democratic Party, has stepped back from federal politics with immediate effect, citing “great exhaustion”. She will not take part in the winter session, which began yesterday.
In an Instagram postExternal link showing only a ceramic mug on a bare wooden table, Meyer writes about her exhaustion and her realisation that she needs to “pull the emergency brake in time”. She has led the Social Democrats with Cédric Wermuth since 2020.
Meyer is not the first parliamentarian to step back due to stress or burnout. The Tages-Anzeiger reports on a further eight Swiss politicians from various political parties who also took time off in the past because they were exhausted and overworked.
Two years ago Meyer’s co-president Wermuth himself took a two-month family leave of absence. “I absolutely love being party president,” he said upon his return. “But it’s a job you carry with you 24/7. It never stops.”
Meyer ended her Instagram post saying: “After that, I look forward to working with you again for a social Switzerland,” indicating her leave is temporary.
Meyer’s announcement comes at a moment when the Swiss media are speaking of a “crisis” within the Social Democratic Party. Following Sunday’s clear rejection of the inheritance tax initiative and a series of cantonal setbacks, several Swiss media outlets note that the party’s leadership is under growing pressure.
While the Oxford Dictionary selects just one word of the year (“rage bait” for 2025), Switzerland chooses four – one for each national language.
For German-speaking Switzerland, the word of the year is Frauen-Nati, celebrating the women’s national football team, which hosted the Women’s European Championship. The 25,000 fans who marched through Bern made history, staging the largest supporters’ march in Women’s Euros history.
In French-speaking Switzerland, the jury selected génocide (genocide). In Italian-speaking Switzerland, the choice fell on dazi (“custom duties”), a reference to the tariff dispute with the US. In the Romansh-speaking part of the country, the word of the year is intelligenza artifiziala (artificial intelligence).
Other shortlisted words included several nods to the US tariff dispute, such as Zollhammer (customs hammer), Chlorhuhn (chlorinated chicken) and “39%”.
The chosen words “question the role of language in shaping understanding”, the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) stated in its press release.
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