Defense Army supports cantons in securing G7 summit
The Swiss army deploys for the G7 summit in France in mid-June. Around 4000 soldiers are helping to secure the border and Geneva airport in the area bordering France.
04.06.2026, 12:15
SDA
The deployment is intended to relieve the burden on civilian security bodies such as the police, as the Defense Group announced on Thursday. The meeting of heads of state and government of the G7 countries will take place from June 15 to 17 in Évian-les-Bains on the south side of Lake Geneva.
Among other things, members of the armed forces will be protecting sensitive sites such as Geneva Airport and providing border protection support. The air force is stepping up its air policing service and enforcing airspace restrictions, which will apply from June 10 to June 18. Security services are expressly excluded from the army's tasks.
The deployed units will complete their regular refresher course, which is why only minor additional costs will be incurred, according to the press release.
Memories come flooding back in Geneva
Parliament had previously approved the army's assistance service for the G7 summit. It authorized the deployment of up to 5,000 members of the armed forces to support the cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Valais. At the beginning of May, the Federal Council approved a request from the canton of Geneva. Accordingly, border controls will be carried out during the summit.
According to the Federal Council, the cantonal police corps and the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG) will be able to check people even without concrete suspicion and, depending on the situation, close individual border crossings.
A summit, then the G8, was held in Évian back in 2003. This resulted in serious riots. According to an expert from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), cooperation between the federal government and the cantons has improved compared to that time in order to prevent similar incidents.
