Prime Minister Announces Plans to Increase Sweden’s Defense Budget by 2030
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he was pushing for funds to be ‘high enough to significantly increase the European NATO countries’ ability to defend Europe.’
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on March 26 that his country is aiming to raise defense spending to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030, a larger and faster ramp-up than planned.
Kristersson told a press conference that Sweden will meet a new target, with a provisional estimate set at 3.5 percent.
He said the government believes NATO will soon set a goal for member states to spend between 3 percent and 4 percent of GDP.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said NATO countries must hike defense spending to 5 percent of GDP, from a 2 percent goal currently.
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“My view is that the stronger the European part of NATO becomes, the more interesting and important it will also be for the United States to cooperate across the Atlantic, and vice versa,” Kristersson said.
The Swedish government also said it would increase aid to Ukraine this year, boosting the 2025 budget allocation to 40 billion Swedish crowns ($4 billion) from 25 billion crowns.
Kristersson, leader of the liberal-conservative Moderate Party, said the government and the right-wing Sweden Democrats had agreed to help fund the rearmament by raising loans of about 300 billion Swedish crowns ($29.8 billion) over a period running to 2035.
“A new and far-reaching security policy situation requires new decisions, both urgent ones and long-term ones,” he said.
Warsaw wants to direct the 7.2 billion euros it received from the pot to fund shelters, dual-use infrastructure, and Polish arms companies.
“We are the first in Europe to initiate this project of key importance … within the framework of the KPO [National Recovery Plan],” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a cabinet meeting on March 25.
“All this averts the danger of war and is an action for peace and lasting security of Poles.”
Norway Says US Steadfast
Norwegian Minister of Defence Tore O. Sandvik said on March 25 that the United States remains committed to Europe’s defense.
“We are not experiencing that U.S. [support] is collapsing,” Sandvik said in an interview with Reuters.
Despite the plans for a more militarily independent Europe, Sandvik said that U.S. support for Europe remains steadfast.
“For those who fear that the United States will not be there when needed, the answer is: ‘increased responsibility for your own security,’” he said.
“Europe must take a bigger share of responsibility so that the United States lives up to its commitments.”
Norway reached the 2 percent defense spending target in 2024 and plans to double current spending levels by 2036.
The Norwegian government may have to spend more, according to Sandvik.
“We are two-and-a-half months [into] a 12-year long-term defense plan and already we see that we have to revise it,” Sandvik said, declining to give specifics.
Norway is NATO’s monitor for the 2 million-square-kilometer (772,200-square-mile) area of the North Atlantic used by the Russian Northern Fleet’s nuclear submarines.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, the Kola Peninsula in northwest Russia, which borders Norway, is strategically important to Russia.
It hosts Russia’s most advanced Arctic land, air, and naval assets, including its nuclear arsenal and second-strike capabilities.
“We have a good dialogue with the Americans about this collaboration, which is extremely important for them,” Sandvik said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
