Swedish government urged to speed up rearmament, report says

The Swedish government was urged on Wednesday to speed up the next governmental decision on defence and rearmament to take effect as early as 2025.

Parliament’s Defence Committee, which includes representatives of all political parties, submitted its first interim report to the government on Wednesday.

According to the report, the current defence decision fails to quantify how much ammunition, spare parts, medical equipment and fuel are needed to cope with intense combat for long periods. The committee noted that such material has been consumed on a huge scale during Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

It also emphasises that establishing infrastructure, mainly new regiments, needs to be accelerated.

The report also points to the lack of qualified personnel limiting the Defence Forces’ rearmament. For example, there is a general shortage of officers, while NATO membership is expected to increase the need for officers further.

According to Hans Wallmark, Chairman of the Defence Committee and member of the ruling Moderate party, all parties sitting in the committee agree with the report.

“I think this is a strength. It is a security policy signal from all eight parties. It is appreciated,” Wallmark said.

The report also points to major uncertainties regarding the army’s rearmament and that “there is a need to provide a new direction for the entire global defence system as soon as possible”.

It is therefore proposed that the next global defence decision be brought forward by one year to take effect from 1 January 2025.

“A major war is raging in Europe today, and this has consequences at all levels,” said Wallmark, adding that “this makes it even more important that the expansion and investment in Swedish security must continue.”.

The uncertainties surrounding the Swedish rearmament are due, among other things, to security policy developments, Sweden’s military support to Ukraine, longer delivery times and higher costs for the purchase of military equipment and Sweden’s accession to NATO.

The Defence Committee will discuss the future direction of the build-up of total defence in its final report in spring 2024. This report will be an important basis for the government’s next global defence bill, which will be discussed in parliament later.

The Defence Committee’s overall assessment is that the 2020 total defence decision concerning military defence will not be able to be fully implemented with the focus and financial framework decided at that time.

However, the Defence Committee believes that the current overall direction of the rearmament should be maintained for now and form the basis for the next defence decision.

“War means that it is a completely different matter now than when we made the defence decision in 2020,” Wallmark said.

The report also evaluates the progress of the current rearmament plan adopted by parliament in 2020, valid for 2021-2026.

(Charles Szumski | EURACTIV.com)