In January, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that Swedish participation in the operations in the Red Sea may become relevant. It is now clear that the government is going ahead with the plans.
“A shared responsibility”
The plan is for Sweden to participate in two operations: Operation Prosperity Guardian which was initiated by the USA and the EU operation Aspides which has not yet started.
– The main task is to ensure the protection of civil shipping against the attacks that the Houthi rebels carry out indiscriminately and which threaten to put vital parts of world trade out of action. We have a shared responsibility with our partner countries, says Billström.
It is not yet clear what types of interventions may be relevant.
– I am not ruling anything out, but it could, for example, be about staff officers, says Defense Minister Pål Jonson to SVT.
Wants broad support in the Riksdag
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, it is not appropriate to proceed with the plans without broad support in the Riksdag.
But getting the opposition on board can be a challenge. According to the Social Democrats’ foreign policy spokesperson Morgan Johansson (S), they are not ready to support the proposal quite yet.
– The way the arrangement looks now, you will not get support from our party, he says after Thursday’s meeting.
There are still “many questions” about the operations, says Johansson (S), who points out that they welcome a dialogue with the government.
– The worst fear is that it will escalate the situation in the region and that Sweden risks being drawn into a very large conflict. We must take that risk seriously.
Defensive operations
Tobias Billström (M) emphasizes that the operations are “defensive in nature” and that they cannot be compared to the military attacks on targets in Yemen led by the United States and Great Britain.
– It is not about attacking any ground targets.
According to Billström, the EU-led operation Aspides can be launched in connection with the next Foreign Council meeting on 19 February.