Swiss Vote Against Abolition Of Army

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

03 December 2001

On Sunday the Swiss voted in a referendum for the second time in recent years on whether the country should abolish its army. Exit polls showed that 79% of voters rejected abolition and 78% rejected proposals to replace the army with a civilian force to assist peacekeeping missions. Most voters followed the recommendation of the government and parliamentary parties, which rejected the initiative proposed by Switzerland Without An Army Association.

Although Switzerland has not been attacked for more than 500 years, and although the army has been reduced by one-third over the past few years, it still has a force of 360,000 men, making it one of the world's biggest armies per capita; and it's very expensive, so that its abolition would free up resources for investment in non-military initiatives.

The army in its present form was first founded in the 19th century, when Switzerland became a constitutional confederation. Every man in Switzerland has to undergo regular military training between the ages of 18 and 42. During the second world war 800,000 men served in the military, guarding Switzerland’s borders against potential invaders. But in 1989 the end of the cold war brought questions about the real purpose of the army. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, it became clear that the Soviet Union's perceived role as an expansionist aggressor was out of date. In a referendum in late 1989 one third of those voting said they thought the army should go.

The government plans to cut back the army even further, from 2003, but it is strongly opposed to losing the force all together. Opponents of the army, who have called for Sunday's referendum on the subject, say there is no point in neutral Switzerland maintaining a fighting force, costing more than $5.5bn a year. Nico Lutz, leader of the Switzerland Without An Army campaign, believes neutral states like Switzerland would be better developing new ways of conflict resolution rather than continuing with the army. “Autonomous self-defence is just not an option for Switzerland,” says Lutz, “no one really believes that, not the army, and not the government."

Neither the government nor even Mr Lutz was expecting a vote against the army yesterday, but if the vote in favour of abolishing the army had been higher than around 25%, the government might have sent the army planners back to the drawing board to plan for a more drastic cut-back than is currently proposed.

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