Vol. 71/No. 38      October 15, 2007

Organized during the Cold War to stave off a presumed invasion from the east, the Swedish military is now a force for deployment. About 850 Swedish troops are abroad. Most are part of NATO-led operations in Kosova and Afghanistan, with 385 and 380 troops respectively. The Swedish government has announced its goal to increase the number of troops deployed abroad to 2,000. On September 26 the government asked the military to prepare 200 troops to send to Chad, neighboring the Darfur province in Sudan, where Sweden will also send 140 troops as part of a UN force. The deployment to Darfur has been delayed because of disagreement from the Khartoum government.

Sweden now leads the Nordic Battle Group, a European Union rapid deployment force with 2,800 troops—2,300 of which are Swedish. That force will be able to be deployed within 10 days anywhere in a 600-mile radius of Brussels, Belgium, as of Jan. 1, 2008.

In 1975 the Swedish military could mobilize 730,000 active and reserve troops. Today the number of military employees, including civilians, is 20,600, with an additional 12,600 reservists and 5,000 draftees. The military budget has not decreased to match.

Finance Minister Anders Borg proposed cuts to military funding of almost 10 percent in a July speech. Defense Minister Odenberg resigned after it became clear that the government would back the proposal.

Odenberg was a central figure in the Moderate Party, the dominant party in the center-right government elected in September 2006. Borg and Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt also belong to that party.

Borg’s July proposal, which became part of a budget presented September 19, was aimed primarily at cutting spending for military equipment. Reinfeldt and Borg say they will use the money instead to finance tax cuts for employed workers and professionals—as opposed to retirees, the unemployed, and people on sick leave or social welfare. Together with stricter rules for social benefits, these politicians claim the tax cuts will increase the number of employed workers. Promises to do so were a central plank in the Moderate Party’s election campaign and part of its self-promotion as a “new workers party.”

The funds being cut were used to buy military hardware produced mainly in Sweden. Given its size, Sweden has a large weapons and military industry. SAAB produces JAS military planes that compete with U.S.-built F16s. Kockums produces military ships and submarines, and Bofors produces howitzers and other cannons.

The Swedish government bought two-thirds of the goods from military production the last six years. In recent years, the portion of exports has increased.

The budget presented by the government September 19 also includes tax raises on gas and tobacco, as well as lower sick pay and unemployment benefits for part-time workers. Tax breaks for people who hire maids and gardeners to work in their private homes, so called domestic services, have been extended further.  
 
 
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