The leaders of the NATO countries are to approve the defense alliance's new defense investment target on Wednesday. According to the draft final communiqué from the summit that their NATO ambassadors have managed to agree on, the countries will increase their defense investments to five percent. This target is to be achieved no later than in ten years.
Our understanding is that we need to get this as soon as possible and we would have preferred 2030, says Jonson.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has warned that Russia may be ready to attack NATO as early as in five years.
Nordic consensus
Jonson points out that among the Nordic and Baltic countries, there is a broad consensus that the faster it goes, the better.
Then we can note that not everyone has the same state financial situation. Sweden enters strong with a low national debt, he says.
Jonson thinks, however, that the most important thing is that NATO sets a five percent target and adds that it is a "historic buildup".
I think few people believed a year ago that we would be able to land at five percent in defense investments in NATO this year.
According to NATO's 5 percent target, 3.5 percent of gross national product should be spent on military expenditures and 1.5 percent on defense-related investments, such as civil defense and infrastructure. NATO currently has a target of only 2 percent for military expenditures.
Jonson notes that the eight Riksdag parties agree that Sweden should reach the new targets already by 2030, even if NATO as a whole is arming more slowly.
Kristersson: No exceptions
However, in the agreed draft final communiqué, some flexibility is said to have been given, primarily to Spain. The reason is that Spain claims that the country can meet NATO's requirements for military capability with 2.1 percent in military expenditures.
Jonson does not want to comment on Spain's considerations but says:
We expect everyone to live up to their commitments. It is important for solidarity and cohesion in the entire defense alliance.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson says he cannot see anything in the final communiqué that creates room for exceptions, and he hopes that everyone will rally around the new targets.
Other countries have expressed irritation that Spain is being given flexibility.
Poland's Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz told the Financial Times (FT) on Monday that exceptions for Spain are unjustified.
Belgium's Prime Minister Bart De Wever is said to request a clarification at the summit on what applies. The source says that the same rules should apply to everyone.
