NATO Applicant Sweden Pledges to Reach Spending Goals by 2026.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia--In light of its pending NATO membership, Sweden will begin spending 2 percent of its GDP on defense two years earlier than planned, the nation's minister of defense said Nov. 19.

Sweden and Finland were invited to join the alliance in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. All but two of the member nations have ratified their applications, with only Turkey and Hungary remaining.

"We're hoping of course to become full-fledged members of the alliance as soon as possible, pending on the ratification process in Hungary and in Turkey," Sweden's Minister of Defense Dr. Pal Jonson told National Defense in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum.

NATO nations are required to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense funding, but many fail to do so. The issue came to public prominence after former U.S. President Donald Trump chastised some NATO members for falling short.

Sweden elected a new government in September, and Jonson was sworn in as the new defense minister about a month later. The previous government had vowed to raise its defense spending in line with the NATO threshold by 2028. Jonson said Sweden currently spends about 1.4 percent of its GDP on defense. However, with the worsening security situation in Europe, the nation will move that goal up to 2026, he said.

"This is about solidarity with other allies. The Baltic nations are at about 2 percent. Poland is way over 2 percent, and Germany is on the track to 2 percent," he said. All eight parties in the newly formed Swedish government support meeting the threshold, although half of them want to keep the original goal of 2028, he noted. "We can find bipartisan agreement on it," he added.

Sweden will be ready to participate as a full member once approved, he said. Sweden and Finland were already two of NATO's closest non-member partners, although they were not parties to Article Five of the treaty that calls for members to come to the defense of any nation that is attacked.

"It was clear after the 24th of February when Russia made this full-scale invasion of Ukraine that there was a difference between partnership and membership. Ukraine was also partner to NATO. Yeah, it didn't help," he noted.

Sweden has participated in exercises with NATO nations for years, and has a lot to offer the alliance, Jonson said. "When we become members of NATO, then we can be part of NATO's common defense planning. We can provide our assets and...