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NATO

Sweden has taken ‘important steps’ to meet Turkey’s Nato objections

Sweden has already taken "important steps" to meet Turkey's demands for approving its Nato membership application, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday during a visit to Sweden.

Published: 13 June 2022 17:29 CEST
Sweden has taken 'important steps' to meet Turkey's Nato objections
Sweden's PM Magdalena Andersson meets Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a press meeting at Harpsund. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

“I welcome that Sweden has already started to change its counter-terrorism legislation and that Sweden will ensure that the legal framework for arms export will reflect the future status as a Nato member with new commitments to allies,” he said during a press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.  “These are two important steps to address concerns that Turkey has raised.”

Andersson reiterated her willingness to listen to Turkey’s objections. “We take the Turkish concerns very seriously, not least the security concerns when it comes to the fight against terrorism.” 

The meeting at Harpsund, Sweden’s official prime minister’s residence, comes less than a week after the ruling Social Democrats reaffirmed a deal struck with the independent MP Amineh Kakabaveh to support the Kurdish government in northern Syria, something that experts see as bound to anger Turkey. 

At the press conference, Stoltenberg said that Nato would protect Sweden during the longer-than-expected application period, using some of the strongest language he has yet given.  

“Seen from a security perspective, Sweden is in a better place now than before it applied”, he said. “Nato allies responded by… issuing security assurances to Sweden.”

If Sweden were attacked, he continued, it was “unthinkable that Nato allies would not react. That is a message that Nato allies have conveyed in a very clear way to any potential adversary”.

“The goal,” he added, “is of course a full membership as soon as possible. But then we need to deal with Turkey’s objections.” 

Stoltenberg said that that the Nato summit in Madrid on June 29th and 30th had never been a deadline for inviting Sweden to join Nato.

“There are bilateral and trilateral talks ongoing with Turkey right now. We are going to be very clear about how we fight against terrorism. We have tightened up our laws and had a much stricter laws around terrorism than we had previously,” she said. “No one is in any doubt over how seriously Sweden sees terrorism and that Sweden is going to contribute to fighting terrorism.”  

She said that in her meeting with Stoltenberg she had stressed “the importance of Sweden continuing its engagement with [nuclear] disarmament”. 

Before the press conference, Stoltenberg took Andersson out in the Harpsundsekan rowing boat, just as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson did during his visit at the start of last month. 

READ ALSO: The history of Sweden’s prime ministerial rowing boat 

Jens Stoltenberg took Magdalena Andersson out in the Harpsundsekan rowing boat. Photo Henrik Montgomery / TT

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MILITARY

EXPLAINED: Is national service compulsory in Sweden?

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently revealed plans to introduce compulsory national service, referencing Sweden as an inspiration for this. But how does national service work in Sweden, and is it compulsory for everyone?

Published: 27 May 2024 15:19 CEST
EXPLAINED: Is national service compulsory in Sweden?

Although Sweden hasn’t formally been involved in a war since 1814, the country has had some sort of conscription system since the 17th century, excluding a seven-year window between 2010 and 2017, where it was scrapped (or more specifically, “suspended in peacetime”).

Historically, it applied to men only, but was extended to include women in 2010.

Is it mandatory?

Yes and no.

When a Swedish citizen turns 18, they receive a letter from The Swedish Defence Conscription and Assessment Agency asking for information on their health, interests and education, in order to determine whether they should be called up for compulsory military service, officially known as värnplikt (“duty to protect”). 

This document is sent out to all Swedes turning 18 in a given year, and it is mandatory to fill this in, with a few exceptions, such as people who receive benefits from the Social Insurance Agency or residential care homes for children and young people (like HVB-hem or SiS-hem).

Having said that, it is by no means every Swede turning 18 in a given year who actually ends up carrying out military service.

In 2023, the agency collected information on 102,286 young people in Sweden turning 18 that year, with 36,420 called up for testing.

If you don’t turn up to these tests, known in Swedish as mönstringen, you can be sentenced to brott mot totalförsvarsplikten or “crime against the total defence obligation”, which carries with it a fine of 2,000 kronor or up to a year in prison.

These tests at the Swedish Defence Conscription and Assessment Agency are mandatory, and include a theory test, a medical examination, eye and colour blindness tests, hearing tests, as well as an EKG test, pulse and blood pressure tests.

You’ll also need to do a general fitness test and a strength test, as well as an interview with a psychologist to determine whether you’re cut out for military training.

Each test will be scored separately, with your total points determining which course within the Swedish armed forces you’ll be assigned to. You’re allowed to express a preference, although you’re not guaranteed to get a position on the course of your choice. Military training (colloquially known as lumpen) takes between 9 and 15 months, depending on the course.

Not everyone who carries out these tests will actually be called up for military training – in 2023, 6,144 (around 6 percent of everyone turning 18 that year) were assigned a course within the Swedish army, where they were joined by an additional 1,166 individuals who had applied of their own accord. 

Those who pass the tests but who aren’t assigned a position in the army are placed in the reserves, alongside people who delayed their conscription (due to their studies, for example). People in this group could be called up to perform military service if Swedish security is placed on high alert.

What about conscientious objectors?

People who for religious or political reasons do not want to use weapons can apply to carry out weapon-free military service or vapenfri tjänst. 

This doesn’t mean that you won’t have to serve at all, but you could be assigned to civil basic training, which essentially means you’d help ensure that important services like healthcare, childcare or the fire services were still running if there was a crisis.

At the moment, there are no civil basic training courses for conscientious objectors running, although the government has the power to reintroduce these.

There is no programme in Sweden similar to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plans for 18-year-olds to dedicate one weekend a month volunteering in the community, for example by “delivering prescriptions and food to infirm people”.

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