Concept of “total defense”
Sweden is preparing the country and its people for war
By Kevin Schulte
23.05.2024, 16:56
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Similar to Germany, Sweden is changing its defense policy following the Russian attack on Ukraine. The youngest NATO member is relying on the concept of “total defense.”
In the event of war, the energy supply in hardly any European country would be as vulnerable as in Sweden. In the Scandinavian country, 16,000 kilometers of power lines run through dense forests, far from civilization. The government and military strategists fear that saboteurs could gain access relatively unnoticed in the shade of firs and spruces, damage lines and thus provoke power outages.
Similar to what Russia is currently doing in Ukraine: critical infrastructure is one of the main targets in the war. Since Russian troops invaded the neighboring country more than two years ago, half of all Ukrainian energy facilities have been damaged. The result is long power outages and harsh winters without functioning heating.
Sweden wants to prepare for an emergency. “Nobody knows how much time we have,” says Civil Protection Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin in conversation with the business portal Bloomberg. Even before Sweden joined NATO, Bohlin had spoken at a security conference last summer made clearthat Sweden wants to return to the Cold War-era concept of “total defense policy”. “We had “One of the most thorough and well-thought-out systems in the field of civil defense, which essentially pursued two goals: firstly, the maintenance of society in very difficult conditions, ultimately under armed attack, and secondly, the concentration of all social efforts in support of our armed forces.”
More money for the military and civil protection
Similar to Germany, there was a change of course in defense policy in Sweden after the Russian attack on Ukraine. Since then, Stockholm has been spending significantly more money on its own security. But the spending is not limited to the military: Sweden also wants to bring important infrastructure into shape in the coming years: ports, roads, railway networks, hospitals and shelters are to be expanded.
In the budget for 2024, 5.5 billion crowns are earmarked for this, which corresponds to around 470 million euros – almost three times as much as in 2021. The Swedish Agency for Civil Emergencies is calling for even higher investments. Ten billion crowns are needed to be prepared for crises.
The military has a similar opinion, as Commander-in-Chief Micael Bydén told Bloomberg makes clear: “It doesn’t matter how strong the military becomes – if we don’t get the necessary support from the civil defense, we won’t be able to do what is required.”
Power plant is reactivated
The most important project in this context is currently the reactivation of a decommissioned power plant in the southern Swedish city of Malmö. The original plan was to completely dismantle the Öresundsverket and sell it to new owners – but then the Ukraine war came and changed everything.
The grid operator Svenska Kraftnät wants to restart the plant of the German energy giant Uniper to ensure security of supply should there be an attack on the power grid. “Hopefully we will not get into a situation where we have to use these options, but it is reassuring to know that the power plant is there when it is needed,” plant manager Mikael Nilsson told Bloomberg quoted.
In 2016, Uniper shut down the plant because the power plant was no longer generating enough money due to low electricity prices. The German company reported at the time that commercial operation was no longer possible. In the years that followed, the owners repeatedly offered the grid operator to include the Öresundsverket in the electricity reserve. However, Svenska Kraftnät rejected the plan. Uniper then looked for a buyer for the power plant and found one in 2021. The Dutch energy company Paco Holding finally signed the purchase agreement.
When Russia gained the upper hand in Ukraine last year and increased its naval activities in the Baltic Sea, the grid operator became aware of the decommissioned power plant. Svenska Kraftnät suddenly ordered Uniper to withdraw from the purchase and put Öresundsverket on standby until the end of this decade. Uniper received the equivalent of almost a billion euros in compensation.
Paco Holding feels cheated. “We had prepared for three years and had already sold the power plant to Turkey. Now Uniper does not want to compensate us. To say that we feel cheated is a huge understatement,” commented Company boss Chris Verbakel told the Swedish business newspaper “Dagens Industri”.
But instead of dismantling the power plant into individual parts and rebuilding it in Turkey, the plant is to be put back into operation at its original location next year. In future, Öresundsverket will serve as an emergency reserve in case the Swedish power grid is attacked.
Sweden’s three-pillar model
The Russian attack on Ukraine also means a turning point for the Swedish population. Because this is an essential part of the rearmament measures Compulsory military service for Swedish citizens. This was reintroduced in 2017. Since then, everyone has received mail from the muster authority on their 18th birthday. A complex process is used to determine who will be invited to the muster. In the end, not even one in ten people is drafted into the army. In a country with a low population like Sweden, this is already enough to cover the military’s personnel needs.
The second pillar on which Swedish defence is based is the so-called “general service obligation”. “Everyone living in Sweden is obliged to contribute to defence. Either within the armed forces, as part of the protection of the civilian population or to maintain important social functions such as healthcare, transport, electricity or childcare,” explains Camilla Asp from the Social Protection and Preparedness Agency (MSB) the principle of “Allmän tjänsteplikt” to the Tagesschau.
At the end of last year, the Swedish government reintroduced compulsory community service as a third pillar. All citizens of the country should provide a service to the community. This completes the concept of “total defense”.
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