Stockholm - Hakan Syren, Supreme Commander of the Swedish
Armed Forces, Thursday warned that requested spending cuts will
seriously impair the country's ability to defend itself and also
carry out international peacekeeping missions.
The government has ordered Syren to bring 'the military budget
into balance' by 2010, and in a proposal the armed forces suggested
shutting down several training facilities and bases as well as
reducing the number of jet fighters deployed by the air force.
Syren said the country's defence capability will be reduced but
told reporters that 'we have had the courage to take this action'
citing a review by a parliamentary-appointed defence commission that
Sweden did not face any major military threats in the coming 5, 10
years.
Units facing closure included the Arctic Ranger battalion in
Arvidsjaur, northern Sweden as well as naval units in Karlskrona and
Malmo in southern Sweden.
The defence commission's assessments made in 2004 were basically
shared by Syren, but he said developments in neighbouring Russia was
a factor that contributed to greater uncertainty.
Parliament must approve the proposals and possible closures.
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told Swedish radio news that his
government's stance was that 'each tax-financed activity that reports
an imbalance or deficit always gets the same reply: suggest how to
fix the problem.'
Meanwhile, the government Thursday said it would ask parliamentary
approval to extend the current term for some 200 peacekeepers in Chad
to October.
The peacekeepers were deployed to protect refugees in eastern Chad
that had fled from the troubled Darfur region in neighbouring Sudan.
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