F-35 jets: Social Democrats seek parliamentary inquiry commission

The Social Democratic Party (SP) intends to request the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry commission (PIC) into the purchase of F-35 fighter jets. The party announced the parliamentary initiative, which will be submitted after discussion within its parliamentary group, confirming information published on Sunday by the "Sonntagszeitung". It said so in a statement to the Keystone-ATS news agency.

According to the SP, the commission should determine whether the irregularities found in the procurement process stem from an individual error or from institutional shortcomings within the Defence Department.

Costs and transparency under scrutiny

Among the points the party wants the commission to examine is the treatment of competing bidders. The commission should verify whether there was discrimination among candidates and whether acquisition and operating costs were deliberately distorted in favour of the F-35, a point that directly concerns the amount of public spending allocated to the programme. A second strand concerns information provided by the Defence Department on dependency on the supplier: here too, it will need to be established whether inaccurate information was circulated.

The initiative is being driven politically by Council of States member Franziska Roth (SO), a security policy specialist. Asked about possible support from other parliamentary groups, the SP said that whoever wants to restore trust must guarantee "chiarimento completo" (a complete clarification).

The call for an inquiry commission had already been made last Thursday by former Social Democratic National Council member Pierre-Alain Fridez (JU), who suggested that the disputed information on the fixed price could hide more than a simple misunderstanding. In an interview with Tamedia newspapers, the former parliamentarian said he was convinced that those responsible had deliberately made false statements in order to secure approval for the purchase of the jets.

Support from the Greens for the proposal appears likely. Less certain is whether the centre-right majority in Parliament will back the commission's establishment, and the outcome of the initiative will depend on that. The question of how long and how costly any inquiry commission would be remains open, ahead of a definitive clarification of the programme's costs.