After twenty years of cooperation with NATO, starting with the Partnership for Peace back in 1994, Sweden was one of five partners granted enhanced opportunities for dialogue and cooperation at the Wales Summit in 2014, my first as Swedish ambassador to NATO. The status of Enhanced Opportunities Partner provided a platform for developing a more flexible and individualised relationship, in addition to other partner formats. It coincided with Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Eastern Ukraine, and also with our defence bill for 2016-2020. Both the need to review our own defence policy and the dramatic signal that a European country was prepared to violate the existing security order using military might, gave momentum to the new partner platform.
Rebalancing our national defence
In Sweden, like in most European countries, the developments in 2014 brought defence and security policy back to the top of the political agenda. The end of the Cold War had given birth to the notion that eternal peace was here and the following decades were characterised by less focus on national defence. The absence of clear threats to our national security made us gradually abandon our previous concept of a strong national defence designed to prevent and avert a possible full-scale invasion. Consecutive governments cut back on defence budgets. The priority became first and foremost contributions to international missions, aiming to stabilise Europe and its neighbourhood. A transition took place, resulting in a leaner and meaner version of national defence with a particular focus on expeditionary forces.
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