Analysis: "Involves an increased presence of American soldiers in Sweden"

The greatly deteriorated security situation in our part of the world casts dark shadows over this year's edition of the national conference in Sälen.

The background is Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which has created the most serious security policy situation in Europe since the Second World War.

One of the measures now being taken, and which was announced on Monday, is that the government will reactivate the civil defense obligation.

In a first step, it concerns municipal rescue services, but the idea is that this duty will be gradually reintroduced in more areas in the future.

Civil defense was effectively abolished after the end of the Cold War, and the wisdom of this can of course be questioned.

Now it is to be expanded again and the background is the experiences from the war in Ukraine.

The devastation in Ukraine after Russian attacks aimed not least at civilian targets shows how important it is to have a functioning and efficient rescue service.

NATO membership dominates

Otherwise, it is various aspects of Swedish NATO membership that dominate the People and Defense conference.

Completely natural considering that NATO entry fundamentally changes Swedish foreign and security policy.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) outlined three points about Sweden's future role in NATO.

It was about air patrols over the Baltics, participation in NATO's missile defense and that Swedish soldiers must be ready to also defend the Baltic countries.

On Monday, Minister of Defense Pål Jonson (M) announced that Sweden wants to deepen military cooperation with the United States to make it easier for American troops in Sweden.

American military equipment in Sweden

According to the Minister of Defence, Sweden has recently begun negotiations with the United States on an agreement, the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA).

This means that conditions are created for establishing so-called base areas in Sweden for American forces.

In practice, this means that American military equipment must be pre-stored on Swedish territory and that the American military presence in Sweden is also expanded.

The aim is for Sweden to be able to receive military aid from the USA more quickly in the event of a crisis or war.

However, the Minister of Defense is careful to emphasize that it is not about building American bases in Sweden.

That would be controversial.

However, similar arrangements in Norway have been criticized for being a way of indirectly creating American bases, without calling them that.

The Social Democrats do not object

There is also not likely to be any major political conflict over this.

The Social Democrats have no objection to the government's plans.

On the contrary, the party's defense policy spokesperson Peter Hultqvist highlights that he also prepared this issue during his time as defense minister.

The Social Democrats therefore stand behind a deepened military cooperation agreement with the USA, and Peter Hultqvist believes that it is a natural part of the NATO adaptation that follows from Swedish membership.