Speech by Minister for Defence Pål Jonson at the Folk och Försvar National Conference 2025

Your Majesty,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We live in serious times. 

The war in Ukraine is more intense than ever. This unprovoked and illegal war has now claimed more than one million casualties.

Russia continues its brutal offensive on the battlefield despite enormous losses and is indiscriminately attacking civilian targets throughout Ukraine. 

Russian defence industrial capacity is growing and the country continues to invest huge resources in its armed forces. At the same time, Russia is using hybrid attacks to target Sweden and many other countries.  

We must assume that Russia will remain a very serious threat to us and our Allies for the foreseeable future.   

China, Iran and North Korea are supporting the Russian belligerence, which shows that this is a war with global consequences that ultimately weakens the rules-based order. 

The fact that North Korean soldiers are now fighting on the European continent for the first time makes this all too apparent.  

The United States plays an essential role in Europe’s security but is focusing increasingly on East Asia, while at the same time more and more Americans are questioning their country’s extensive commitments abroad. 

By all indications, this trend will intensify during the forthcoming Trump administration. 

The inevitable conclusion is that we Europeans must take much greater responsibility for security on the European continent. 

Defence efforts must intensify, and the pace of rearmament needs to accelerate. 

Unfortunately, however, Europe is underperforming in several areas. 

Too few resources are being put into defence and there are major shortcomings in the warfare capability of European countries. 

Defence materiel production is too low, and lead times are too long. 

What were previously viewed as theoretical problems concerning percentages and burden-sharing may, in these serious times, constitute an existential threat to Europe’s security. 

Sweden must now do its part in this work – with increased European responsibility – by continuing to strengthen NATO, supporting Ukraine and vigorously rearming the national defence.  

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Sweden has provided security within NATO since day one.

Ten months after becoming an Ally, Sweden is now providing a mechanised battalion to NATO’s Forward Land Forces in Latvia. 

We are making a substantial contribution to NATO’s Standing Naval Forces and Air Policing. 

Sweden will also assume framework nation responsibility for NATO’s Forward Land Forces in Finland. 

This is a massive and important responsibility along NATO’s longest border with Russia. 

Finland is Sweden’s closest partner – and now we are also Allies. Therefore, it was self-evident that we would shoulder this responsibility when Finland asked us. 

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Supporting Ukraine is not a choice. It is a duty. 

The future of the European security order is being settled right now on the battlefields in and around Ukraine.

This fight will determine whether coming generations will get to grow up in a Europe governed by the rule of international law or the rule of might.

Supporting Ukraine is thus an investment in our own security and our own future.  

Sweden has also chosen to increase support to Ukraine each year that the war has ground on.  

In October 2022, Sweden had decided on SEK 3 billion in support. That support now exceeds SEK 48 billion. 

Last year, Sweden provided the world’s sixth-highest amount of military support to Ukraine.

Now we are shifting that support from donations of Swedish Armed Forces materiel to production, with deliveries directly from the Swedish defence industry.  

In the coming three years, it will also be possible to send more than several tens of billions in newly produced defence materiel to Ukraine. 

This opens up major opportunities for us and other countries seeking to support Ukraine,  

and it demonstrates that a strong defence industry is an important element of our collective defence capability. 

Without it, we would never be able to provide such strong and long-term support to Ukraine.

The speed and effectiveness with which Sweden has been able to provide this extensive support should serve as an inspiration to us all. 

What we have done to build up Ukraine’s defences has been possible in a matter of weeks and months. But what we have done to build up our own defences here at home has far too often taken years or decades.  
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In serious times, however, there is danger in delay. 

This was why the national total defence resolution was brought forward by one year – to respond to the deteriorating security situation more quickly. 

The defence appropriation is currently SEK 63 billion higher than when we took office. 

Over the past year alone, the Government authorised the Armed Forces to procure materiel for SEK 128 billion. 

This is almost a threefold increase compared with recent years. 

Sweden belongs to a handful of countries in NATO that are increasing their defence investments the most, 

although this is taking place after decades of frivolity and underinvestment. 

It is now high time to transform these expanded resources into military capability – and urgently.

The Armed Forces’ military units are the core of our defence capability and are our most important contribution as a NATO ally.

This is why we must do everything possible to produce and reinforce those units.

They must be equipped, manned and trained in joint exercises. 

In short, they must be fully combat-ready. 

Nothing, and I mean nothing, in terms of building up our defence is more important than achieving this right now. 

Anything that hinders the formation of military units threatens our security and our ability to live in peace.

This requires permit processes to be shortened and decisions streamlined. 

To take one example, the Government approved simplifications of the Armed Forces’ environmental assessments late last year, meaning decision-making processes can be shortened from years to just weeks. 

If we are to successfully rearm in the way that the geopolitical situation demands, however, much work remains to be done by us all. 

The trend of long lead times for defence materiel must be broken.

For this reason, the Government will present a defence industry strategy for a stronger and safer Sweden in the coming months. 

Its guiding principles will be greater innovation, greater production and greater cooperation. 

Sweden is one of the world’s most innovative countries, but the war has accelerated the pace. 

For this reason, innovative capacity in Swedish civil and military industry must become beneficial to our combat units much more quickly to our combat units. This is a prerequisite for relevance on the modern battlefield. 

To achieve this, new and more efficient cooperation between authorities and businesses is needed, both here in Sweden and with our Allies.

In the past, political expectations for these areas have been low. Those days are over. 

Thank you.