pic: navyskipper.blogspot.com
Way up north in the town of Sälen, northwest of Mora och near the border with Norway, the who’s who of Swedish military and defense, various ministers, party representatives, experts and a sprinkling of ambassadors are gathered at the yearly conference called Folk och Försvar, Society and Defense, to discuss issues pertinent to Sweden’s military security and defense matters. The military’s commander in chief Micael Bydén (ÖB in Swedish, överbefälhavare) spoke today, SvD reports.
“We live in a time in which global development demands both immediate alertness and long-term endurance” Bydén said in his speech. The Middle East, an aggressive Russia, China’s increasing influence, the USA’s shifting priorities, brexit, and the climate effects on conflict are some of the issues that Sweden faces. “A rule-based world order is under duress, and several traditional patterns of cooperation have been weakened or are being challenged.”
The cost of Sweden’s military forces is under continual pressure. “Sweden is in a geographically sensitive area, and with the background of a worsened security situation, Sweden’s defense must be further developed” stated Bydén – and political parties agree with him. Just how much should be spent is the crux of the matter.
At the conference yesterday, Moderate party leader Ulf Kristersson announced that for the Moderate party to sign off on the agreement between the Social Democrats, Center, Liberal and Green party last August, another 9 billion kronor is needed for the measures that were agreed upon. This would raise the military appropriation to 93 billion kronor in 2025, about 1.5% of Sweden’s gross domestic product, according to DN.
Peter Hultqvist, minister for defense, said he wasn’t completely opposed to the Moderate bid. More negotiations will take place later this year.
A new poll from DN/Ipsos shows that people’s trust in Sweden’s defenses remains low at 51%. Only 18% of respondents say that they have a lot of trust in the military’s capability to defend Sweden in case of an attack. In a related question, people were also asked whether or not Sweden should join Nato. The results shows small changes since the question was asked in 2014: The number of people saying no to Nato membership sank from 47% to 38%. However the number of people saying yes to Nato also decreased, from 35% to 30%. You guessed it, the number of people who don’t know, or are uncertain, increased from 20% to 32%.
As Micael Bydén implied, it’s an uncertain world.