Bulgaria's Chief of Defense: 2.5% of GDP does not suffice to modernize the army

Bulgaria's President Iliana Iotova emphasized the need to continue work on the projects already approved by the European Commission under the SAFE instrument for rearming the Bulgarian army, following the annual conference of the Chief of Defense.

Iotova recalled that SAFE is a loan program and stressed the importance of giving the domestic defense industry a larger share and greater participation, rather than selecting projects from the European Defence Agency registry. “That has now been resolved, and the next step is to find the best way to implement these projects,” she added.

Admiral Emil Eftimov, Chief of Defense, stated that defense spending at 2.5% of GDP is insufficient to build Armed Forces capable of responding to the demands of the modern security environment.

“The country is far from having modern armed forces fully interoperable with NATO,” stated caretaker Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov after the forum.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov
English: R. Petkova