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NATO

Swedish Prime Minister ‘won’t negotiate’ with Hungary on Nato bid

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he would be happy to accept his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban's invitation to Budapest to discuss a range of issues, but not to negotiate the terms of Sweden's Nato application.

Published: 26 January 2024 11:50 CET
Swedish Prime Minister 'won't negotiate' with Hungary on Nato bid
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban this week invited Kristersson to Budapest to discuss the issue “at your earliest convenience”, an invitation Kristersson on Thursday accepted.

“I’m happy to go to Budapest … We have a lot to talk about … but we’re not negotiating the Nato membership, there are no negotiations on this,” Kristersson told Swedish television TV4.

“But we could talk about how we will best cooperate in Nato,” he said.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström on Tuesday said there was “no reason to negotiate” with Hungary.

Kristersson said Friday that while he was willing to travel to Budapest, a meeting with Orban at the European Union Council in Brussels on February 1st was more practical.

“We’ll see each other on Thursday next week at the European Council and we can begin discussing things then,” he said.

For a visit to Budapest, “we’d have to find a date for this, things like this aren’t usually done in haste. I suspect that his calendar, like mine, is quite full.”

Orban’s invitation came just days after Hungary criticised Sweden for not taking steps to strengthen bilateral relations.

Budapest has often denounced what it called Sweden’s “openly hostile attitude”, accusing Swedish representatives of being “repeatedly keen to bash Hungary” on rule-of-law issues.

EXPLAINED:

Orban said nonetheless on Wednesday that he had reaffirmed his “support” for Sweden’s membership to the security alliance in a phone call with Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg.

Sweden and Finland dropped decades of military non-alignment and applied for Nato membership in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.

Finland became the 31st nation of the alliance last April.

Nato membership applications require unanimous ratifications by all alliance members.

After more than a year of delays, Turkey’s parliament ratified Sweden’s bid on Tuesday and President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the formal accession protocol on Thursday.

Member comments

  1. The American empire is dying and they are going to sacrifice Europe through NATO so they supply us the weapons and arms as our industrial base has been decimated through the years and we do all the fighting and dying. A form of lend lease 2 like they did in the Second World War. There economy starts booming again and Europe gets destroyed.Sweden would do well to stay clear of the US arms economy

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MILITARY

EXPLAINED: What you need to know about Sweden’s new military spending report

Sweden's parliamentary defence commission on Friday recommended adding 52.8 billion kronor to the national defence budget by 2030, taking defence spending to 2.6 percent of GDP.

Published: 27 April 2024 13:18 CEST
EXPLAINED: What you need to know about Sweden's new military spending report

What is the Swedish Defence Commision? 

The Swedish Defence Commission is a cross-party forum which seeks to ensure broad political agreement around Sweden’s defence requirements. It brings together representatives of all eight parties in the Swedish parliament, with two each from the Moderates, Sweden Democrats and Social Democrats and one each for the other parties.

There are also advisers and experts from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Finance, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Swedish Armed Forces, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. Members of the committee are supported by a secretariat comprising one principal secretary and five secretaries.

What is the report they have delivered? 

The committee on Friday delivered its final, report, “Strengthened defence capability, Sweden as an Ally“, meeting the deadline given by the country’s defence minister Pål Jonson when he ordered the committee to develop proposals for a new defence bill in December 2022, with a total of four reports, the first three of which were delivered in April 2023, June 2023, December 2023. 

What have they recommended? 

The committee have recommended that Sweden’s budget is increased from 119 billion kronor a year in 2024 to 185 billion kronor in 2030, which would bring total spending to 2.6 percent of Sweden’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

The committee said it agreed with the recommendations given by Micael Byden, Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces in November 2023, which were that Sweden should increase or improve: 

  • air defence and in particular its cooperation within NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD)
  • its ability to combat air, land and sea drones 
  • its integration with NATO’s command system
  • its logistics, so that it can provide Host Nation Support and serve as a base for other units from other Nato countries. 
  • its capacity to operate with military units outside Sweden’s borders 

But the committee also made additional recommendations beyong those given by the armed forces, calling for: 

  • two new army brigades, so that Sweden would have three mechanised brigades and one infantry brigade by 2030
  • a new Norrland Infantry Regiment,
  • an increase in the number of conscripts trained a year from the current level of 8,000 to 10,000 in 2030 and 12,000 in 2032, and possibly to 14,000 in 2035
  • a boost in Sweden’s air defence capability, particularly to counter drone attacks 
  • stocking up on additional ammunition, including air-to-air and cruise missiles, and spare parts 
  • 20 new companies and platoons dedicated to defending Sweden’s territories 
  • increased refresher courses for conscripts, extra funding of voluntary defence organisations, and expansion of the officer education programme

How will the cost of funding this military expansion be met? 

While they were agreed on what needed to be done, party representatives on the committee did not agree on how much needed to be spent or how ti should be financed. 

The Centre Party representative said that spending should be higher, comprising 3 percent of GDP. 

The representatives from the Social Democrats, Left Party, and Green Party, added a statement to the report when they called for a section on how the extra spending should be financed.  

Peter Hultqvist, who served as defence minister under the former Social Democrat government, called for a new beredskapsskatt, or “Readiness Tax” to fund the increase, saying it was disappointing that the committee had not been able to agree on financing. 

“This demand is so big that it risks pushing other pressing requirements out of government spending plans,” he said. “There is a risk that healthcare, education and elderly care will be hit.” 

But Ulf Kristersson, Sweden’s prime minister, rejected the idea of a new tax. 

“It’s no secret that the parties on the left always see reasons to raise taxes, and that’s the case this time as well, I assume. But that is not our way forward,” he said. “We must be able to prioritise Swedish defense, and I understand that there is now complete agreement that it is an important political task.” 

Anna Starbrink, a defence spokesperson for the Liberals, the smallest party in the government, said that the Swedish Defence Commission had not in the past been tasked with developing funding proposals. 

“This is a new idea from the opposition and from the Social Democrats’ side is about nothing more than forcing through a new tax hike through the defence commission, and that’s something the rest of us don’t want to go along with,” she said. 

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