Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson has ordered the Public Service to prepare for the reintroduction of conscription of civilians for its emergency services.
This is the latest move by the Nordic nation to shore up its defence capabilities since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Kristersson (pictured) said the country was returning to a situation where there was a formalised civil duty.
Minister for Civil Defence, Carl-Oskar Bohlin said the scheme would focus on deploying appropriately-trained civilians within the municipal rescue services, bolstering their capabilities to respond in a state of emergency or to any potential attack.
He said the Government was engaged in “broader work” concerning the possibility of reintroducing civil conscription — which in effect is the civilian equivalent of military conscription — in other parts of the country’s Civil Defence infrastructure.
“Experiences from Ukraine are clear — when it comes to protecting the civilian population, rescue services are put under very heavy pressure,” Mr Bohlin said.
It was not immediately clear how many civilians would be involved, but local media reports suggested that as many as 3,000 people could be called up as part of the initial phase of the plan, which has echoes of Sweden’s Cold War-era defence plans.
Sweden also has plans to increase military spending to two per cent of its Gross Domestic Product and double the number of military conscripts to 10,000 by 2030, according to a report by the Bloomberg News Agency.
Stockholm, 9 January 2023
