Sweden says it is committed to meeting NATO’s defense spending targets – unlike Canada
Within two years, Sweden – the formerly neutral Nordic country soon to join NATO – will meet the Western military alliance’s often-discussed defense spending target of two percent of gross domestic product.
The country’s top military commander, General Micael Bydén, told CBC News that Sweden is also restructuring its armed forces to make it more of a “wartime organization” to be ready in case the conflict with Russia escalates.
Sweden’s approach to the crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stands in stark contrast to Canada’s – which has no plan to meet NATO spending targets, is struggling to recruit new military members and lacks a clear consensus on what the primary role of the armed forces should be be it.
Sweden and the historically non-aligned Finland chose this spring to simultaneously apply for membership in the Western military alliance.
“It has been obvious for quite a few years. We are heading towards a new world order with development that [are] going … in the negative direction,” Bydén told CBC News in a recent interview.
Sweden’s application set in motion a series of sober decisions in Stockholm — in addition to the sober decisions the country took already after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
The first was an express order from the Swedish cabinet to Bydén to meet the defense spending benchmark.
Bydén was careful to avoid comparisons in his interview with CBC News and focused his remarks on what Sweden has achieved and wants to achieve.
“We bring in quality”
The more he spoke, the clearer the contrasts with Canada became.
When asked what Sweden brings to NATO, he replied: “We bring with us modern military thinking. We bring with us expertise that fights under difficult conditions to the north. We bring with us capabilities with high technology. So we are not which brings in volume here, but we bring in quality, and NATO knows this.”
The country also maintains a relatively broad set of advanced capabilities—from modern, advanced fighter jets (Saab’s Gripen competed to replace Canada’s CF-18) to advanced missile and air defenses—backed by a large, sophisticated domestic defense industry.
On paper, the Swedish military (with 24,000 active duty and 31,000 reserves, with firm plans to grow to 100,000 in total) is slightly smaller than the Canadian Armed Forces (68,000 active duty and 27,000 reserves, with the goal of growing to 101 500). However, Sweden reintroduced conscription in 2018 and the restructuring means that the country can scale up quickly if necessary.
“When I refer to the ‘wartime organization,’ that is [what] we could [have] after a political decision on mobilization,” said Bydén. “We could fill the wartime organization with the conscripts.”
The introduction of conscription in Canada during the last two world wars set off political crises in this country, the effects of which have been felt for years.
Conscription and compulsory conscription have been part of a more hardened political and social mindset in Europe. Some military experts have even speculated that Russia’s abolition of conscription after the end of the Cold War has contributed to the country’s military setbacks in Ukraine.
The bydén highlighted another part of the hardened mindset: civil defense, resilience and preparedness. He pointed to NATO’s Article 3, which calls on members of the alliance to “maintain and develop their individual and collective capabilities to resist armed attack.”
Earlier this fall, Canadian MPs on the House of Commons defense committee asked themselves fundamental questions about what role the Canadian military should play in responding to domestic disasters. There is no such debate in Sweden.
“National Resistance”
Since 2018, Sweden’s civil defense authority, which works with the military, has been dropping leaflets in people’s mailboxes giving practical advice on what to do in emergencies (such as power cuts) but also calling for “national resistance” if the country were to be attacked.
“The Swedish population has a duty to contribute to Sweden’s total defense”, it says in one of those pamphlets, with the title If crisis or war comes.
“This means that everyone who lives here and is between the ages of 16 and 70 can be called in to assist in various ways in the event of war and threats of war. Everyone is obliged to contribute and everyone is needed.”
Bydén described it as “awareness” and a reminder to the country’s 10 million people that they have civic responsibilities.
Steve Saideman, who holds the Paterson Chair in International Affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, said the difference between Canada and Sweden in defense posture can partly be explained by geography. The Swedes are literally next door to Russia.
“The Swedes take this very seriously”
And Moscow, he said, has made it clear that in any war in the Baltics, the seizure of the Swedish island of Gotland would be of strategic importance to Moscow.
“We’re too far away. We just don’t have the same level of immediacy,” Saideman said, adding that throughout its history, Sweden has faced confrontations with Russia that Canada couldn’t imagine.
So the Swedes are taking this very, very seriously, because the Russians have made it very, very serious for them.
Saideman also referred to the two percent defense spending benchmark as a “crap measure” that does not take into account a nation’s participation.
Still, listening to Bydén, it seems clear that ending Sweden’s two centuries of studied neutrality was an easy policy for him to get behind — almost a no-brainer — because the world, not just his neighborhood, has changed dramatically.
When the government of now-former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson approached him this spring for advice on whether the Nordic nation – which has practiced a relaxed form of neutrality since the days of Napoleon – should join NATO, he did not hesitate before saying “yes .”
The world has changed. Can Canada keep up?
The world has changed, Bydén said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime has shown its willingness to take on huge strategic risks and to back up its “tough rhetoric” with military action.
So, is Canada getting the message? The short answer is — wait for the Liberal government’s defense review.
There has been much talk from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet about defending the “rules-based international order” and Canada notably committed up to $1 billion to arm Ukraine.
A spokesperson for Defense Minister Anita Anand said Canada will continue to make the necessary investments to keep the country safe “as our world darkens.”
“We are currently working to update Canada’s defense policy, and this update includes consideration of the size and capabilities of the Canadian Armed Forces and its roles and responsibilities,” Daniel Minden said in a media statement.
“The purpose of this update is to ensure that our Canadian Armed Forces continue to have the resources necessary to both keep Canadians safe and contribute meaningfully to operations around the world. We will always do what it takes to protect Canada and our allies.”