Bulgaria could play a key role in European defense efforts, said the chairman of the EU council António Costa.
Costa, who is currently visiting three days in the country, has done an Arsenal JSCO tour, one of the main manufacturers of firearms and ammunition and said that Bulgaria could be a leading supplier of Europe's defense capacities.
“Europe's security begins in Ukraine. The security of Europe and Ukraine cannot be separated. We have made the decision to considerably increase our investments in defense. Investing more in the defense of the means of investing more in our economy and our research and innovation capacity,” said Costa.
“If we want to succeed in this defense program, we must mobilize all the capacity in different member states. Bulgaria has good conditions to have a key role in this process. Not only to provide Bulgarian necessities but also to provide and be a large supplier of defense capacities of other European countries.”
Costa also said that a greater investment in defense between European countries could also stimulate competitiveness.
He also said that his visit to Bulgaria is working at an important time for the country, after entering the Schengen region and its preparations to reach the euro zone.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rossen Jeliazkov said Sofia aims to increase defense expenses in percentage of GDP.
“This year, defense expenditure exceeds 2% of GDP. The government's intention is to further increase these expenses using the option to activate the clause which allows rearmament projects, implemented within the framework of EU public procurement initiatives, to be excluded from the budget deficit,” he said.
Bulgaria has been a member of NATO since 2004 and many alliance countries are nervous because the Trump administration said that the United States's defense priorities no longer live in Europe.
This triggered calls through the continent so that Europe spends more for its own defense and do not count on Washington, in particular with several nervous countries about the territorial ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin exceeding the borders of Ukraine.
“Bulgaria will continue to be a constructive, predictable and reliable partner while the EU faces geopolitical and economic challenges,” said Jeliazkov.
Meanwhile, President Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. also arrived in Bulgaria during his European tour.
Trump Jr. denied media access to his meetings with Bulgarian business leaders, telling journalists to leave before disembarking from his plane and again on the site, saying that he was “no mood for photos”.
Despite the nature in camera of the event, it appeared that Trump Jr. met Boyko Borisv, Party leader, the greatest political force in the Bulgarian Parliament, but the nature of their talks has not been made public.
