Liberalerna, Sverige’s Liberal party, is calling for the establishment of a ”war budget” to allocate funds for supporting Ukraine. The party’s leader, Johan Pehrson, also stated that Sweden should be prepared to run a budget deficit to finance defense spending. The party is also open to taking on significant amounts of debt to bolster the country’s defense capabilities.
According to Pehrson, the proposed war budget would ensure that funds allocated to Ukraine do not detract from other important areas such as climate, infrastructure, education, and welfare. The party believes that once Ukraine is free, the budget for support would return to zero.
In terms of defense spending, Liberalerna believes that Sweden’s strong economic situation allows for the abandonment of the budget surplus target and running a deficit for a number of years. The party is open to the idea of taking on significant levels of debt to finance defense expenditures, as Sweden needs to increase defense spending to over two percent of GDP as per NATO’s guidelines.
However, Liberalerna opposes the idea of a preparedness tax, as proposed by the Social Democrats, to fund defense investments. The party believes that Sweden’s high-tax economy already allows for the necessary funding and that driving out high-income individuals or companies with high taxation would not be beneficial for Sweden’s security.
Overall, Liberalerna’s stance is to prioritize defense spending and support for Ukraine without implementing additional taxes, and instead rely on deficit spending and possibly taking on significant debt to fund these initiatives.
