Pfister has to explain Swiss mini-military spending in Munich
Keystone-SDA
At the 62nd Munich Security Conference, Defence Minister Martin Pfister spoke for the first time about Switzerland’s relatively modest defence spending.
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Pfister told Swiss public broadcaster SRF on Saturday evening in Munich that Switzerland has come under fire for spending less than 1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. By comparison, NATO member states have committed to investing around five times that amount – around 5% – when defence is measured in broader terms.
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Pfister met his counterparts from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as from Slovenia and Ireland, to outline Switzerland’s defence and security policy, defence ministry spokesperson Renato Kalbermatten told the Keystone‑SDA news agency on Saturday. The discussions also looked at potential areas of cooperation and the option of holding joint exercises.
This was the first time that Pfister had attended the high-level international meeting in Munich.
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Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans also underlined the need for close international cooperation to protect Switzerland from a range of threats. He held talks with his German and Austrian counterparts, as well as Europol Director Catherine De Bolle, focusing on cross‑border cooperation and data sharing in the fight against organised crime.
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He also discussed human rights issues with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk. Meanwhile, more than 100 cantonal police officers were deployed to Munich to help secure the area around the conference venue.
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In the run‑up to the conference on Friday, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis held a series of diplomatic meetings with NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska, Brendan Hanrahan, the European director at the US State Department, and his Georgian and Syrian counterparts. His talks focused in particular on the role of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in European security, as well as the peace process in Ukraine and the Middle East.
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