Håkan A. Bengtsson European Sovereignty Commentary on the Findings of the Survey in Sweden EUROPEAN AND NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY FROM A SWEDISH PERSPECTIVE The survey of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Fondation Jean Jaurès shows, among other things, that more people in Sweden are positive about sovereignty and fewer have a neg­ative view than the European average. The proportion who are positive about Sovereignty increases with age and income. Relatively many Swedes highlight self-government, indepen­dence and individual freedom as positive concepts. On the other hand, power and nationalism rank low. Swedes seem to appreciate and understand the meaning of European sovereignty. In this context, two thirds of Swedes consider that external borders controls are particularly important. In contrast to the other countries in the survey, slightly more than half(56 %) of Swedes have a positive view of European sovereignty. The Swedish view of European sovereignty dif­fers depending on the age group, but Swedes generally think it is important to strengthen it. In this respect, countering terrorism is ranked before tackling climate change as issues that a sovereign Europe should ad­dress, but Europe’s role in meeting and countering China’s and Russia’s power ambitions is also considered an important task. All in all, this gives a rather fragmented picture of the Swedes’ view of national and European sovereignty. How can we un­derstand the results of the survey from a historical perspective? HISTORICAL LEGACIES The overarching question is whether the Swedish idea of inde­pendence and sovereignty of Sweden has special features for the EU. To do this, it is necessary to examine whether the Swedish self-image is related to the fact that Sweden is a constitution­al monarchy that has been associated throughout the 20th century with democracy, a high degree of equality, a devel­oped welfare state, an extremely strong trade union move­ment and, at times, a politically dominant social democracy. This paradox – that the historical strongholds of social democ­racy emerged in the Nordic monarchies – is interesting in it­self. However, as in other Nordic countries, the role and pow­er of the Swedish royal house was gradually reduced to pure­ly ceremonial obligations. Moreover, unlike many European countries and its Nordic neighbours, Sweden has not been involved in a war for over 200 years. Compared to others, the country has a peaceful history without many long-term battles or conflicts. Unlike its Nordic neighbours, Sweden managed to avoid being drawn into the Second World War. Sweden has a long, unbroken tradition of national independence that has been protected and promoted in many ways and is deeply rooted in its na­tional identities. There are relatively few violent political events in Swedish po­litical history. The coup d’état of 1809, following the loss of