PM announces Bulgaria's priorities for EU leaders' meeting

We will talk about defence funds. We believe that it is too early to talk about increasing the budget when a number of countries have not yet reached 2%, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said as he entered an informal meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

"You know that with the purchase of F-16s, Bulgaria has reached 3% of GDP, so we have exceeded the targets set by the EU," the prime minister was quoted as adding by BNR correspondent in Brussels Angelina Piskova.

"Bulgaria is situated between the Western Balkans and the Black Sea - these are difficult and tense areas. We will talk from the Bulgarian point of view about the dual use of transport infrastructure - Corridor 8, the Adriatic-Black Sea route and the Baltic-Black Sea connection," Zhelyazkov announced.