Donald Trump's confrontational line towards Europe since his return to power has made European leaders worried that the USA will abandon its role as the continent's guardian.
The reaction has been to invest heavily in upgrading. But Sweden has mostly been watching, thinks Magdalena Andersson.
We demanded early on that a new security policy analysis should be quickly produced, lightning-fast negotiations with the defence industry should be initiated, and a total defence fund should be established. The government talks a lot about having guts, but when reality changes, one should keep a cool head – and act.
The government's spring budget contains new investments totalling 16.8 billion kronor. An additional 385 million is allocated for strengthened civil defence, and the defence gets 300 million.
The new security policy situation has not made any impact at all, thinks the S leader.
Denmark's Mette Frederiksen says "buy, buy, buy". I would have said produce, produce, produce, and quickly appointed a defence industry coordinator.
In the Social Democrats' spring budget, investments of 600 million kronor for medical stockpiles, 100 million for food supplies, and 500 million for emergency hospitals are proposed.
Constructive talks
We have also repeatedly pointed out that we should arm our army much faster and secure our air defence capability. We also need to strengthen civil defence – not just healthcare, but also investments in critical infrastructure such as railways and power supply.
We want to contribute constructively to those talks, even though we have lost many months.
