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ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss voters will decide on Sunday whether the financing of arms manufacturers, the latest anti-military referendum in the EU, should be banned from a neutral country that has not waged an external war in 200 years.
Swiss banks have given companies like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics nearly $ 11 billion in loans and shares, according to a study by independent researcher Profundo.
According to the study, the Swiss National Bank (SNB), UBS and Credit Suisse are the most heavily involved.
« An enormous amount of money is coming from Switzerland to an industry that is profiting from death and destruction, » said Julia Kueng, co-president of the Young Greens Party.
The SNB rejected the initiative that would create legal uncertainty and undermine the independence of the central bank. UBS also refused, stating that it had neither directly nor indirectly financed weapons that are already banned in Switzerland.
Credit Suisse referred Reuters to the Swiss Bankers Association. The association said the initiative would weaken Switzerland as a business location and unnecessarily restrict the SNB, pension funds, banks and insurance companies.
The initiative against war trade wants to prohibit the SNB and the pension fund from holding shares in companies that generate more than 5% of sales with weapons and components. It would prohibit banks from lending to defense companies.
The vote is the last to question Swiss ties to the military. In 1989, voters opposed the abolition of the army, while six years ago they opposed buying Gripen fighter jets.
The Group for Switzerland Without an Army (GSoA) is in favor of an increase in wars involving gun fuel, and Switzerland could contribute to demilitarization through its oversized wealth management industry.
« These weapons need funding, » said GSoA secretary Nadia Kuhn. « The banks in Switzerland manage around a quarter of the global assets managed across borders. This gives Switzerland the opportunity to change something. «
Switzerland not only invests in foreign companies, but also produces arms, and some companies obtain loans from banks. Switzerland exported weapons worth 727. 9 million francs in 71 countries in 2019 compared to 510 million francs in 2018.
Switzerland prohibits the production and sale of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons as well as land mines and cluster munitions.
The Swissmem industrial group estimates that around 3. 000 companies with 50. 000 employees could be affected by the initiative it rejected. The Swiss government is also against it.
« Of course we all want to have a completely peaceful world. But this initiative would not achieve that – no other country does. Instead, this would lead to companies relocating their production from Switzerland. «
One of the companies affected is Casram, which generates around 15% of its sales with the defense industry and sells parts to Saab for use in Gripen airframes.
« You cannot survive in Switzerland if you only make simple products. You have to produce more complex articles, « said CEO Franco Puffi. « If we lose this market, it’s like cutting our legs off. «
Credit Suisse, Finance, Financing, Swiss National Bank
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Ref: https://www.swissinfo.ch
