Avsiktsförklaring mellan Sverige och Frankrike om totalförsvar och motståndskraft

Joint Declaration of Intent for Cooperation between the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden and the Government of the French Republic on Total Defence and Resilience

The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden,

and

The Government of the French Republic,

Hereinafter referred to as “the Signatories”,

Guided by the French-Swedish strategic innovation partnership for sustainable, digital and resilient societies, signed by the President of the French Republic and the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden, in Stockholm, on 30 January 2024;

Recalling the need to promote and strengthen the security of the Euro-Atlantic area, including through the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the common attachment to the rules-based international order, the purposes, rules, and principles of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) and effective multilateralism;

Recognizing that the deteriorated security situation in Europe as a result of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its ambition to weaken and disarm Europe, undo transatlantic ties and subjugate its neighbours, requires stronger alignment and further strengthening of the cooperation and regular dialogue on foreign and security policy between France and Sweden bilaterally, within the EU and NATO;

Recognizing the need for continued efforts at EU and Member States’s level for strengthening total defence, resilience and preparedness in Europe, and by urging the critical implementation of existing EU mechanisms and policies, to strengthen total defence and resilience;

Reaffirming that the relationship as Allies in NATO provides a rationale for a deepening and a broadening of the cooperation and exchange of experiences and lessons learned;

Sharing the same objective of developing the concept of total defence and resilience (integrated concept of defence, articulating military defence and the resilience and preparedness of the whole-of-society), by further strengthening the bilateral defence and security cooperation;

Stressing the need to strengthen national total defence and resilience, as well as security and defence capabilities aiming at reducing vulnerabilities (threats, including foreign information manipulation and interference, cyber threats, supply chain disruptions and other hybrid threats as well as physical threats and sabotage) in strategic sectors and critical infrastructures;

Emphasizing the efforts of Sweden to develop total defence and resilience through a whole-ofgovernment and whole-of-society approach;

Emphasizing the efforts of France to develop total defence and resilience on its whole territory and recalling the update of the French Strategic national review of 2025;

Stressing the increasing budgetary efforts for nation-wide resilience and preparation planning in Sweden and France up to 2030;

Recalling the re-establishment of a national security reserve and national security service in France since 2019 and in Sweden since January 2024;

Recalling the document "Planning Assumptions for The Development of Total Swedish Defence 2025- 2030" and the Swedish brochure "In case of crisis or war", and its French equivalent entitled “We are all responsible. Facing the risks, let’s act: well prepared, well protected, all committed”;

Recalling the speech of the French President of the Republic on March the 2 nd 2026 to introduce the concept of “forward deterrence”;

The Signatories declare their intention to strengthen their cooperation in the fields of total defence and resilience, around the following priorities:

Institutional cooperation on knowledge and development of the total defence and resilience:

- Raising awareness of the importance of a whole-of-government and a whole-of-society approach to counter an armed aggression, or simultaneous destabilizing hybrid actions - towards a European country or its Overseas Country and Territory (OCT), while ensuring the continuity of national vital functions;

- Leveraging opportunities for cooperation to further strengthen respective European defence readiness and resilience, and to strengthen security and defence industrial bases, and their global competitiveness;

- Seeking , to that end, to promote and develop on the basis of the common interests of the Signatories, and where appropriate, common French, Swedish and European solutions to meet our respective capability needs;

- Increasing responsible actors’ efforts to strengthen defence capabilities, civilian preparedness and the resilience of our democratic societies;

- Organizing events intended to increase the knowledge of the total defence and resilience concept on specific subjects of common interest;

- Promoting the concepts of total defence and resilience to other countries, and strengthening cooperation between States and actors on this issue;

- Promoting the total defence and resilience perspective in the EU and NATO contexts, and actively contributing to optimise the complementarity of activities within EU and NATO respectively;

Knowledge sharing and best practices:

- Sharing knowledge and experience regarding the total defence and resilience concepts, involving all administrative levels and relevant actors (whole-of-government and whole-ofsociety), including areas such as resilience planning, training and exercises, civil society engagement and public-private cooperation;

- Where relevant and if providing a clear added value, establishing contact points between relevant ministries and agencies in the total defence and resilience areas, including critical sectors, to enable smooth knowledge sharing and exploration of joint projects aimed at promoting the resilience concept;

- Exploring ways to strengthen public awareness of risks related to malign foreign digital information manipulation, for instance through deepened Franco‑Swedish cooperation on

countering foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI), building on the work of France’s VIGINUM and the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency;

Strengthening of synergies in research and training in the field of total defence and resilience: - Strengthening the teaching of the concepts of total defence and resilience, in schools and for younger generations; - Identifying research and development opportunities, and harnessing total defence and resilience research and development (R&D); - Exploring ways to strengthen cooperation on innovation and technology development in important areas such as countering FIMI and cyber threats, protection of infrastructures, as well as resilience to disasters, including in the perspective of EU’s funding programmes for research and innovation.

This joint declaration of intent does not create any legally binding rights or obligations under domestic or international law.

Signed in Stockholm on 17 June 2026, in two copies in English and French.

Mr. Johan Berggren His Excellency Mr. Thierry Carlier State Secretary to the Minister of Civil Defence, Ambassador of France to the Kingdom of Sweden Mr. Carl-Oskar Bohlin