Swiss Parliament rejects proposal to join G7 REPO working group

Switzerland's lower house of parliament, the National Council, has rejected a proposal to join the G7 international task force on finding the assets of russian oligarchs (russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs or REPO).

On Wednesday, the National Council rejected the proposal by Green Party MPs by a majority of 101 votes to 80.

Switzerland has not yet set up an official working group to implement international economic sanctions imposed on russia over its aggression against Ukraine. This issue is currently being overseen by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) within the Federal Ministry of Economy.

"As a country with significant russian assets and a major commodities trader, Switzerland has a great responsibility in this area. Membership (in the REPO group - ed.) would send a clear political signal," said Franziska Rieser, a member of the Green Party.

According to Laurence Fellmann Riel, a member of the Social Democratic Party, Switzerland cannot provide direct military support to Ukraine, "so it is all the more important to act where we can."

According to various estimates, russian individuals on the sanctions lists have assets in Swiss banks ranging from 150 billion ($164.9 billion) to 200 billion Swiss francs. So far, Switzerland has frozen only CHF 7.5 billion.

"It is not surprising that this has drawn international criticism. Switzerland's participation (in the REPO task force - ed.) is not a threat to its autonomy, but it is a way to show that we take sanctions seriously," said Laurence Fellmann Riel.

In addition, according to her, REPO's decisions are not legally binding, and after joining the group, Switzerland will always be able to decide for itself whether to accept the next packages of sanctions against russia or not.

However, right-wing MPs were not convinced by this argument. "Switzerland is already cooperating on sanctions with many countries and organizations, including REPO, but at a technical level. It is doing its job, and even better than many other countries," argued Hans-Peter Portmann, a member of the FDP/PLR.

As reported, the REPO working group was established in March 2022 by the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States), the European Union (EU) and Australia. To date, no other country has joined it.

Last year, the Swiss government once refused to participate in the work of this group. Back in February 2023, the Swiss Federal Ministry of Justice and Police informed the Cabinet of Ministers, the Federal Council, that one of the goals of REPO is not just freezing, but direct confiscation of private assets of legal origin for the purpose of restoring Ukraine, which contradicts the provisions of the Swiss Federal Constitution.

In June 2023, the so-called "Helsinki Commission" of the United States criticized Switzerland's sanctions policy, and the ambassadors of the G7 countries accredited in Bern demanded that Switzerland cooperate more closely with them in the search for the assets of russian oligarchs. The Federal Council rejected all this criticism at the time, stating that the amount of assets frozen in Switzerland was "decent" by all international standards.

Source: Swissinfo