An overwhelming majority of the Swedish people, 84 per cent, say no to foreign powers being allowed to place military and war materiel on Swedish military bases without Swedish oversight.

This is according to an opinion poll conducted by Novus on behalf of the Swedish Peace Council.

At the same time, the Swedish government has negotiated such an agreement with the United States, which the Swedish parliament will shortly consider.

The well-known and strong opposition to nuclear weapons in Sweden also emerges from the survey.

More than seven out of ten Swedes believe that Sweden should not enter into military co-operation agreements that mean that Sweden renounces the right to deny nuclear weapons to be placed on Swedish soil, according to the survey conducted by Novus on behalf of the Swedish Peace Council.

The agreement recently negotiated by the Swedish government with the US does not include any guarantees that the US will not place nuclear weapons on Swedish soil in peacetime without Swedish consent.

The Novus survey also shows that more than seven out of ten Swedes say they do not know or say no to foreign powers being allowed to use Swedish territory for attacks on third countries.

The so-called DCA agreement, which the Swedish government negotiated with the United States, means, among other things, that the United States will have the exclusive right to dispose of military areas at 17 Swedish military bases, where Swedish authorities waive the right to scrutinise. In practice, this means that these areas will become part of US territory.

The agreement also gives US military police the right to repel any perceived threat to these exclusive areas anywhere in Sweden - including by force of arms - without Sweden being able to prevent it. In addition, the agreement gives the US the right to move its soldiers between bases on Swedish soil, in Swedish airspace and Swedish waters without Swedish authorities needing to be informed, let alone being able to say no to such movements.

The Swedish Peace Council believes that this agreement with such far-reaching powers for foreign powers in Sweden has been negotiated with too much speed and that most Swedes do not know - or rather have been withheld - the real content.

This is also shown by the Novus survey, where more than three out of four Swedes say they do not know what DCA is.

With a strong Swedish opinion behind it, the Swedish Peace Council therefore urges the Swedish Parliament not to approve the DCA in its current form.

Brief summary:

More than five out of six (84%) believe that foreign powers should not be allowed to place military and war material on Swedish military bases without Swedish oversight.

Just over seven in ten (72%) believe that Sweden should not enter into military co-operation agreements that waive the right to refuse to allow nuclear weapons to be placed on Swedish soil.

Nearly three in ten (29%) believe that foreign powers should be allowed to use Swedish territory for attacks on third countries - just over five in ten (53%) do not.

Just over three in four (76%) do not know what DCA is.

Implementation:

Number of interviews conducted: 1,107

The survey was conducted 23-30 May 2024

The survey was conducted via online interviews in Novus' randomly recruited Sweden panel, which guarantees representative results. This means that the results are generalisable to the current target population.