The Swiss voice in the world since 1935

Swiss parliamentarians back expansion of nitrochemical capacity to boost defence

National Council wants to enable nitrochemical capacity expansion
National Council wants to enable nitrochemical capacity expansion Keystone-SDA

The Swiss House of Representatives has backed a motion to expand the armaments company Nitrochemie in canton Bern in order to increase Switzerland’s defence capabilities. The company is a joint venture between the German Rheinmetall Group and the Swiss military technology firm Ruag MRO.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives adopted a motion from its Security Policy Committee (SIK-N) by 124 votes to 59, with three abstentions. This motion calls on the federal government to ensure that Ruag MRO has the necessary capital for the capacity expansion of Nitrochemie by next May.

In winter, Defence Minister Viola Amherd announced that the German group had asked whether Ruag could participate in a capacity expansion of over CHF200 million. Ruag does not currently have the funds for extensive investments in nitrochemicals.

The Swiss Senate will also decide on the matter on Thursday. It has received a motion from its own responsible committee.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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.

Most Read
Swiss Abroad

Most Discussed

News

sheep

More

Swiss forced to throw away tonnes of sheep’s wool

This content was published on Swisswool, the largest Swiss wool processor, is not accepting any wool for the first time this spring. For many sheep farmers, the only option is to get rid of the wool.

Read more: Swiss forced to throw away tonnes of sheep’s wool
More jobs were advertised throughout Switzerland in the first quarter

More

More Swiss jobs advertised in first quarter

This content was published on After reaching a low point at the end of 2024, the Swiss job market showed the first signs of a slight recovery in the first quarter.

Read more: More Swiss jobs advertised in first quarter

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

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.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR