{"id":42213,"date":"2021-04-08T12:36:57","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T12:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/04\/08\/sweden-clings-to-its-neutrality-amid-substantial-defense-budget-boost\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T12:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T12:33:18","slug":"sweden-clings-to-its-neutrality-amid-substantial-defense-budget-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2021\/04\/08\/sweden-clings-to-its-neutrality-amid-substantial-defense-budget-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweden clings to its non-NATO status amid substantial defense budget boost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to Sweden as a neutral country, which is different from its policy of non-alignment with NATO.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">COLOGNE, Germany \u2014 Sweden\u2019s push for a sizable military boost is part of the government\u2019s calculus to remain outside NATO and seek other avenues for defense cooperation instead, the country\u2019s defense minister said this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s so easy to say that the solution to all the defense questions in our part of Europe is solved by only a NATO membership,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/outlook\/2021\/01\/11\/swedens-defense-minister-additional-resources-are-coming-to-bolster-national-security-alliances\/\">Peter Hultqvist<\/a> told reporters in an online press conference April 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sweden joining the alliance would \u201cchange the situation\u201d for non-aligned neighbor Finland, a key partner for Stockholm on defense matters, he said. \u201cAnd Finland has a very long border to Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2018\/03\/14\/fortress-sweden-inside-the-plan-to-mobilize-swedish-society-against-russia\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-647076066.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Fortress Sweden: Inside the plan to mobilize Swedish society against Russia<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Sweden is preparing to turn its entire country against an invading force \u2014 and to hold out for three months until help arrives.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hultqvist added that Sweden\u2019s security doctrine, derived from \u201chistory and experiences,\u201d would not lend itself toward a formal membership in NATO, though the country, like Finland, is part of the alliance\u2019s enhanced opportunity program that grants certain partners a closer affiliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe think the best thing we can do is to upgrade military capability and work with others from a bilateral and multilateral perspective and build real interoperability, but not change anything in the platform for the security in our part of Europe,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NATO membership is a controversial subject in Sweden. Politico reported in December that a majority of parties in parliament are now backing an eventual alliance membership over the stated objective of the minority government in which Hultqvist serves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An all-around boost to Sweden\u2019s military, approved by parliament late last year, envisions a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2020\/12\/15\/sweden-ups-defense-budget-40-due-to-regional-tensions\/\">40 percent<\/a> spending increase between 2021 and 2025, ending up at $11 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plan entails upping the size of the military from 60,000 to almost 100,000 personnel by 2030, reorganizing the army into three mechanized brigades, upgrading navy corvettes with air-defense missiles and building new ships, and developing a next-generation fighter aircraft while fielding the latest Saab Gripen E plane throughout the force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also in the works is an effort to come up with a \u201clong-term equipment supply strategy,\u201d Hultqvist told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like the rest of Europe, Sweden was jolted into action on military spending by Russia\u2019s annexation of Crimea 2014 and the ensuing destabilization of Ukraine, Hultqvist said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe act from what has really happened, and make conclusions from that perspective,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s so easy to say that the solution to all the defense questions in our part of Europe is solved by only a NATO membership,\u201d Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":66271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,36],"tags":[8624,8628],"coauthors":[3425],"class_list":["post-42213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters","tag-sweden","tag-ukraine"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ONSCORFF35FDBGZKDXODS5AOIE","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2021\/04\/08\/sweden-clings-to-its-neutrality-amid-substantial-defense-budget-boost\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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