As of: March 17, 2024, 7:12 a.m
By: Christiane Kühl
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Press
Split
Finland and Sweden are putting their societies on defense mode in the face of the growing threat from Russia.
Civil defense in the far north is also a role model for Germany.
For decades, the Scandinavian countries were considered role models for tolerant societies, modern design and generous social systems.
Times have changed: Today, Western European countries are dealing with the “total defense” models of new NATO members Finland and Sweden.
This concept relies not only on the military, but also on civil protection and a willingness to defend society as a whole.
Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, for example, traveled to Scandinavia at the beginning of March to find out about the Nordic civil protection models - and promptly advocated greater protection for the civilian population in Germany.
In Helsinki, Pistorius visited the Merihaka bunker complex, which is used as a sports center in peacetime.
According to the Finnish Interior Ministry, the country has more than 50,000 safe shelters with space for 4.8 million people, a good 85 percent of the population.
Germany, on the other hand, only had bunker space for ten percent of the population even during the Cold War, said Pistorius in Helsinki.
And even these have now mostly been sold or expired.
New members Finland and Sweden agree to NATO's military budget target of two percent
Finland is the only country in the Baltic Sea region that has never reduced its defense capacities, even after the end of the Cold War.
The country borders directly on Russia and the sense of threat is pronounced.
In the event of an acute military threat, the relatively small Finnish armed forces can quickly mobilize a reserve reserve of 280,000 people - with only 5.5 million inhabitants.
Sweden, once a pioneer of “total defense,” fielded only a well-trained but small professional army after 1991, designed more for special operations than for national defense.
However, Stockholm changed its mind early on.
In 2017, Sweden reintroduced compulsory military service for men and women after just a seven-year break.
In April 2023, the Swedish Defense Commission presented plans to reintroduce the scrapped Total Defense program.
By 2026, Sweden's defense spending is expected to rise to the NATO target of two percent of gross domestic product (GDP), up from 1.54 percent in 2023.
The armed forces want to more than triple the number of soldiers in Stockholm to 90,000 by 2030 compared to 2022.
When Finland joined NATO in April 2023, Finland also pledged to spend more than two percent of its GDP on defense.
Threat from Russia: Civil Defense in Sweden
If military service, which was suspended in 2011, is reintroduced in Germany, Pistorius wants to follow the Swedish model.
There is a compulsory military service there, but not entire cohorts are drafted.
This saves money and is more efficient.
According to Defense Minister Pal Jonson, the military drafts around five to ten percent of a class.
With Carl-Oskar Bohlin, the government of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has also appointed a minister solely for civil protection for the first time.
He's already picking up speed, for example when it comes to expanding shelters.
“Its mandate is to ensure the resilience of society in times of heightened alert or war,” Kristersson said in a speech earlier this year.
“The experience from Ukraine has shown that resilience must be built from the ground up.” Shortly after Kristersson's speech, Sweden also reactivated community service.
Reinforced infrastructure and emergency supplies
According to a recent study by the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) think tank in Washington, physical resilience includes energy security as well as emergency stocks of food, drinking water, medical resources and spare parts.
The infrastructure – such as public transport, power grids, mobile networks or broadcasting – must be resilient.
However, according to the study, work on strengthening bridges or port facilities has only just begun in the region.
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Finland's statutory National Agency for Emergency Response is intended to ensure that the necessary functions for the economy, national defense and the population's livelihood are guaranteed even in exceptional circumstances.
According to CEPA, it is also important to have a well-informed public who can correctly assess the situation.
In Finland, sophisticated government education programs ensure that citizens understand the threat posed by Russia.
These include courses on national security in schools through to seminars on national defense for business or academic leaders.
Volunteers from the Swedish military service “Hemvärnet” train urban warfare in the town of Ystad – home of the fictional commissioner Kurt Wallander © Johan Nilsson/TT/Imago
Great interest in shooting training for volunteers since the start of the Ukrainian war
According to a local TV report, Finland wants to build hundreds of new shooting ranges where reservists and civilians can practice.
Interest in this has increased enormously since the start of the war in Ukraine, it was said - which shows a growing willingness to defend the country among civilians, as was also observed in Ukraine at the beginning of the war.
Meanwhile, voluntary military service is flourishing in Sweden: The “Home Guard”, “Hemvärnet” in Swedish, had around 20,000 members in 2020 – after 120,000 in the mid-1980s.
But in 2022 alone, under the impact of the war in Ukraine, according to the US news portal
Politico
, 29,100 Swedes applied for membership in Hemvärnet.
Interest remains unbroken in 2024.