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Traditionally, the Riksdag’s defense decision has had wide support and has spanned several years. Now these two pillars are under threat ahead of the Riksdag’s decision in December.
The broad support has meant that the Riksdag’s two largest parties, the Social Democrats and the Moderates, have come to terms. This is for defense policy to last, regardless of who wins the next election. This is what happened before the current decision in 2015.
The base of the Riksdag Defense decisions are made by the Defense Committee. In preparation, the eight parliamentary parties in 2017-2019 largely agreed that Sweden should invest heavily in stronger civil and military defense.
On August 30, 2019, the government and the January C and L parties agreed on the bill for defense in the years 2021-25. Therefore, M and KD (as well as SD) were excluded. But the leaders of the four parties still wrote that the Riksdag’s defense decision in 2020 would receive wide support:
“The goal is a decision of the defense that should be able to reach the greatest possible support. A broad consensus on the country’s defense policy is a strength, as it is an important signal of security policy and an important mark of stability in relation to the Swedish people, ”the party leaders promised.
But this spring arose that the costs of military defense will be higher than anticipated. The government does not want to invest more in defense with reference to the pandemic. And in June negotiations broke down in the retired Defense Committee.
Increased defense credits in 2026 and 2027 would pave the way for a broad agreement with M and KD. But the government has not made such contacts, defense politicians from the four bourgeois parties tell DN.
– Until now, talking about unity is an empty speech. It is very unfortunate because the autumn parliament has already started. We hoped the government would have returned by now, says Mikael Oscarsson, the defense politician for the Christian Democrats.
September 30th the government must present its defense bill to the Riksdag. When Stefan Löfven read the government’s statement on Tuesday, he spoke of “significant additions” to the defense, but said nothing about a broad defense decision.
The leader of the liberal party Nyamko Sabuni considered that the government had now violated the agreement with C and L.
– I regret that Sweden does not have a defense policy that is anchored in the Riksdag, Liberal party leader Naymko Sabuni told SVT
Since the government is at risk of being defeated by its defense bill, it has instead included its own writings on the defense organization in the annual budget for 2021. The January C and L parties are on the economic level in the budget, but they refuse, as DN reported, to accept the large reach of the government. writings on defense.
Positions are completely locked even though the budget was presented on September 21. It is so tense that Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist (S), defense politicians Allan Widman (L) and Daniel Bäckström (C) refuse to speak on behalf of DN. At the same time, the Commander in Chief wants information on the economy until 2027.
– The longer the time perspective, the better. You must respect the fact that it takes time to develop military capacity, Micael Bydén told SVT on Monday.
Pål Jonson (M) points out that the government is isolated from a five-party parliamentary majority who want more funding. As chairman of the defense committee, he rejects the government’s attempt to make the defense decision for one year:
– There are key elements in a defense decision that are binding on the Riksdag, such as the objectives of civil and military detention, the organization of war, the economy and investment plans. All of that and the evaluation of security policy around the world is nothing that can be included in a one-year budget bill, says Pål Jonson.
