GENEVA, December 3. /TASS/. The threat to Europe's security, allegedly posed by Russia, is imaginary, so the Swiss authorities have no need to actively build up the military potential by increasing the defense budget, Priska Sailer Graf (of the Social Democratic Party), a member of the National Council (a house of the Swiss parliament) has said.

"We don't find it convincing enough that we should increase the number of both artillery weapons and tanks equally at the same time. This is an unrealistic scenario. The Russians will not be on the Rhine with their tanks any time soon," she said on Blick television.

According to the legislator, it is impossible to purchase all weapons at once, because the economic situation in the country does not allow for this. Instead, Sailer Graf suggested arms purchases in accordance with the current priorities.

On December 3, the National Council began discussing the budget of the Swiss Federal Council (government) for 2025. According to Keystone-SDA, the finance committees of both houses of parliament want to allocate 530 million Swiss francs (569 million euros) more than the government for the armed forces next year. The agency says that these plans have drawn criticism from the Greens and the Social Democrats.