Extraordinary billions for the army: what would that mean?

A debate is intensifying in Switzerland over how to finance a significant increase in the army's budget, with some politicians proposing extraordinary spending measures to bypass the nation's stringent debt brake rules. Proponents, primarily from conservative security policy circles, are working on concrete proposals for the fall session that would allow billions to be allocated for defense without immediately necessitating cuts in other sectors or a public vote on tax increases.

This approach is seen as a convenient way for parliament to avoid difficult decisions. However, the plan is legally contentious. The finance administration suggests that approving extraordinary expenditures for items like drone defense would violate existing law. There is also a concern that such a move could set a precedent, encouraging future attempts to circumvent the debt brake, a rule that many proponents of fiscal discipline typically champion.

The article points out that Switzerland's debt brake is not as easily circumvented as Germany's, where the Bundestag established a 100-billion-euro "special fund" for the army outside the regular budget. In Switzerland, the debt brake rules, in place since 2010, stipulate that even extraordinary expenses cannot lead to permanent new debt. Any deficits incurred must be offset by surpluses within six years.

The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, complicated this. Between 2020 and 2022, the federal government incurred extraordinary expenses totaling 30 billion Swiss francs, primarily for social services and economic aid. This significantly increased the national debt from 103 billion francs in 2019 to 139 billion francs in 2022. The article suggests that recouping such substantial debt within the six-year timeframe would be extremely challenging, leading some in Bern to consider allowing a portion of this debt to remain.