GSoA initiative for export ban: budget for counter-campaign secret

Ruag, which sees around half of its 4,000 jobs threatened by the initiative, is working against the campaign together with the business associations Swissmem and Economiesuisse, of which it is a member. In an interview with the Sonntagszeitung, Ruag CEO Lukas Braunschweiler said that the Group is supporting their "No" campaign with 200,000 Swiss francs. The counter-campaign is also receiving support from Thurgau-based Mowag, 80 percent of whose armored vehicles are destined for export, and from Schaffhausen-based weapons manufacturer SAN Swiss Arms. However, both the trade associations and the other companies are keeping quiet about the budget for the poster campaign.

GSoA with a limited budget: "David against Goliath"
Tom Cassee, secretary of the Group for a Switzerland without an Army (GSoA), reckons that "the opponents have at least ten times as much money". According to the GSoA, the total budget for the campaign is around CHF 200,000. It can also count on broad support, although this does not amount to large sums. Greenpeace, for example, is supporting the campaign mainly in terms of ideas and information work, says spokesman Mathias Wyssmann. The Greens are spending around CHF 20,000 on the referendum campaign. The SP is running a "medium-sized campaign" with a budget of between 30,000 and 50,000 francs, according to campaign manager Peter Lauener.
The bourgeois parties FDP, SVP, CVP and BDP are represented in the non-partisan committee against war material export bans. The SVP has no budget of its own and only offers logistical support in the referendum campaign, as Secretary General Martin Baltisser says. The party is also not paying Economiesuisse. CVP spokesperson Marianne Binder refers to the FDP, which is coordinating the middle-class campaign. FDP spokesperson Damien Cottier has "nothing to answer" when asked about his party's financial commitment and doubts the estimates of the initiators. For the FDP, this is a medium-sized campaign, but its impact on the economy is large, Cottier said.

(Image: Keystone. Ruag has sold 32 Tiger F-5E aircraft to the US Navy).