Responding to calls from the conservative opposition for Sweden to join the North Atlantic alliance, Persson said "I am convinced that the Swedish people are opposed to Sweden becoming a member of NATO."
"I am also convinced that we are in a good position as regards security policy, and it would be foolish to change course," he added.
Sweden, which has not fought a war since 1813 and remained neutral through both world wars, has since the 1950s pursued a policy of "non-alliance during peacetime and neutrality in wartime."
"We have no reason to become a member of NATO even if the Baltic countries aspire to join," he said following a debate between leaders of parties represented in the Stockholm Parliament.
Sweden's Baltic neighbors Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - which were annxed by the Soviet Union in 1940 and regained their independence only in 1991 - all wish to join the Atlantic alliance.
"These countries have their history, and we have ours," Persson noted.
"NATO will be one of the subjects debated during the election campaign," he admitted, but he stressed, "It will not be one of the major debates."
Elections are scheduled for Sept. 15.
Bo Lundgren, leader of the moderate right in the Parliament representing more than 20 percent of the electorate, called during the debate for Sweden to join NATO.
Last February Sweden unveiled a new defence policy formally endorsing cooperation with other countries to counter future security threats, a shift some experts said presaged Swedish membership in NATO.
The new policy stated that while Sweden "pursues a policy of non-participation in military alliances" it was now apparent that "threats to peace and our security can best be averted by acting concertedly and in cooperation with other countries."
"As a member of the European Union, we are part of a community based on solidarity, whose primary purpose is to prevent war on the European continent," the policy statement said.
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