Politics Sweden announces massive rearmament
New NATO member Sweden wants to drastically increase its defense spending over the next ten years.
26.03.2025, 13:53
SDA
At a press conference in Stockholm, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced that an additional 300 billion crowns would be invested in defense by 2035. This was agreed by the government together with its supporting party in parliament, the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats. This sum is equivalent to around 26.3 billion francs.
It is the plan for the largest military build-up since the days of the Cold War, said Kristersson. Since the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, we have found ourselves in a completely new security policy situation; there is also a lot of uncertainty about transatlantic relations, he said, referring to the policies of US President Donald Trump. These uncertainties would remain for a long time to come.
The credit-financed investments are necessary in order to spend around 3.5 percent of Sweden's gross domestic product on defense by 2030, said the head of government. The Scandinavian EU country is currently at around 2.4 percent.
