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The Swiss parliament has rejected a plan to help Ukraine worth more than €5 billion

Author:
Oleksiy Yarmolenko
Date:

The parliament of Switzerland rejected the governmentʼs plan to provide Ukraine with long-term aid in the amount of €5 billion.

RTS writes about it.

The plan was presented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis. He predicted the allocation of such money to Ukraine over the next 5-10 years.

105 MPs, mostly representatives of right-wing parties, voted against this plan. 86 MPs supported it.

The funds were planned to be used for humanitarian aid, civil defense and demining, as well as for "peace-building" activities. However, several MPs stated that many issues still need to be clarified in terms of the recovery of Ukraine and international cooperation.

The proposal was put forward by the chamberʼs committee on foreign affairs back in March. His representative Nicholas Walder explained that Switzerlandʼs refusal of armed aid to Ukraine "should not release us from our solidarity efforts to support Ukraine."

"Allocating 0.22% of GDP to help this country, Switzerland is behind almost all European countries. Austria and Norway are doing much more in line with their economic power. Even Poland spends 3.1% of its GDP on aid," Walder noted.