"For the foreseeable future, every Swedish government will need to make the same priority as we do now. For these are different times we face today compared to when the previous national security strategy was presented in 2017. Not only in Sweden, but also in Europe and the world," writes the Prime Minister in the foreword (p. 3), and continues
"There are two obvious threats that shape our choices for Swedish security and freedom. One is war. The other is crime."
The government writes (p. 23) that they are based on five guiding principles:
Urgency and pragmatism: The security situation makes it urgent to enhance capabilities in many areas.
Decisiveness and determination: In many situations, especially during extraordinary events, indecisiveness and lack of action can have more serious consequences than less suitable choices of means.
Robustness and adaptability: The stresses society will face cannot be predicted in detail, but experience suggests that such will occur.
Involvement of the entire society: Many threats and risks affect multiple sectors of society and span both geographical and operational boundaries.
International cooperation: Swedish security policy is based on threats to our security being met as far as possible in cooperation with other countries and organizations.
In the strategy, the government defines vital and strategic national security interests for the work on national security. Vital interests are those worth the greatest sacrifices. The strategic interests are those we are prepared to allocate considerable resources to secure, writes the government.
On page 11, it states that Sweden's vital national security interests are to protect the country's security, democracy, freedom, independence, sovereignty, and freedom of action; to safeguard the population's life and health; to defend the country and allies against armed attack and maintain territorial integrity; to secure supply preparedness and societal functions; and to preserve democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.
Furthermore, it states that the work on national security also guides the government by more limited, strategic interests. These are grouped based on the strategy's three focus areas, which they write extensively about from page 25:
The first area, a secure Sweden, encompasses what has traditionally been considered external security.
The second area, a safe, open, and cohesive Sweden, includes what is often gathered under the heading of internal security, but goes beyond this and also includes long-term measures to strengthen cohesion in Swedish society.
The third area, a resilient and competitive Sweden, includes measures to strengthen society's resilience, but also economic security and long-term measures to protect our prosperity, as it constitutes the material base for national security.
– There remains a great deal of work before Sweden's national security strategy is translated into concrete action. And that is natural. The strategy touches on several different policy areas and ministries. In some issues, there is broad consensus in the parliament, as shown in the work of the Defense Commission, but in other issues, it is far from frictionless, says SOFF's Secretary General Rober Limmergård in a post on LinkedIn.