A hearing in Agenda is a much quieter exercise than a party leader debate.

The harsh attacks therefore shone with their absence when party leaders and spokesmen for two hours turned and twisted defense and security policy.

But when the conversation turned to NATO, it still heated up a bit.

As expected, Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvist (S) criticized Ulf Kristersson's (M) decision to apply for membership in NATO even without broad support in the Riksdag.

The moderate leader countered by stating that a minority consisting of MP, V and S can not have a veto in the matter.

Thus, Ulf Kristersson (M) seems to assume that the Sweden Democrats are about to turn.

Tonight's hearing did not, however, support that conviction.

- Our attitude has not changed.

One should not make hasty decisions because we are in a crisis right now, said SD's defense policy spokesman Per Söderlund.

Finland's choice of route crucial

Despite the disagreement about NATO, all participants agreed that Finland's path choice is crucial for Sweden.

Not even Nooshi Dadgostar (V) wanted to completely exclude a NATO membership if Finland says yes while Peter Hultqvist (S) did not want to speculate at all.

But should the Finnish process land in a yes, there is much to suggest that the Social Democrats will swing.

According to a recent survey from Novus, such a position would also be in line with voter opinion.

63 percent of voters think that Sweden should join NATO if Finland does.

On the other hand, support for Sweden to join NATO on its own has waned since the outbreak of war.

Then almost every other voter answered that they were in favor of a membership, but now the proportion of insecure is increasing and the support has decreased to 42 percent.

A contributing reason is probably the government's warnings that it would involve a great risk to change security policy line now.

Decreasing support for NATO membership is bad news for Ulf Kristersson, who put a NATO application at the top of his list of election promises.

The tactical motive is not difficult to understand.

The ambition before the election is to portray the government as passive.

And when the Moderates' most important issue, law and order, has come to the fore as a result of the war, it is important to find a more current conflict where one can accuse the Social Democrats of pulling the legs behind them.

The consequences of the war can play a role

The fact that the Social Democrats are deducting public opinion and that voters' confidence in Magdalena Andersson (S) is just over 20 percentage points greater than for Ulf Kristersson also contributes.

In addition to the NATO issue, the increased defense funding to two percent of GDP was the evening's second theme where the party political arguments became clearest.

And it is a debate that will only intensify in the coming months, where disagreements revolve around schedules and funding.

The parties on the left have opened up for increased taxes, which the entire right-wing opposition, including the Center Party, flatly says no to.

But despite the fact that the debate is currently completely dominated by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, it is not at all certain that it will be the big x-factor in the election.

Therefore, the parties are wise to stick to their other priority issues while being prepared to quickly adjust their strategies depending on developments.

And no matter what the security situation looks like in September, the consequences of the war in the form of higher energy prices, rising inflation and perhaps hundreds of thousands of refugees will have a role in the election that no party could have foreseen when they laid out their election plans in the autumn.

The parties on the NATO issue

  • Sabuni (L): When Putin praises us, we must understand that something is wrong

    31 sec

  • Söderlund (SD): Depends on how the security policy situation develops

    42 sec

  • Bolund (MP): Joining is not a path to a nuclear-weapon-free world

    42 sec

  • Oscarsson (KD): You can not redeem insurance when it starts to burn

    49 sec

  • Kristersson (M): It is risky to be non-aligned

    31 sec

  • Hultqvist (S): There is so much we need to discuss

    49 sec

  • Lööf (C): A membership would create a strong Nordic region

    42 sec

  • Dadgostar (V): Can not get over the dangers of applying now

    51 sec