After CCNS: Security Sector Staff and Modernisation of the Army are Priorities

Speaking after the meeting of the Consultative Council for National Security held on 30^th of May, Bulgaria’s President Roumen Radev stressed that he was extremely satisfied that all those who took part in it were very responsible and constructive in the discussions and in elaboration of the relevant proposals.

Radev said that important reports were presented concerning the risks and threats to national security, the state of the structures and bodies of the national security system and the measures necessary to strengthen the sovereignty of the state.

“The participants in the meeting agreed that the modern security environment is extremely dynamic, saturated with continually changing challenges,” Radev said.

Radev specified that the decisions they had taken for a proposal to the executive and the legislature were contained in four main points.

The first point is about an update and improvement of the National Security Strategy.

The second point from the proposals relates to an analysis and proposals for the integrated development of the security sector and allocation of resources for the different state bodies and structures for the next 5 years.

The third point included оvercoming the shortfall of personnel in the security sector and the fourth point was on development of a national plan for achieving investments in defence equal to 2% of the gross domestic product by 2024.

The Consultative Council for National Security decided to speed up the modernization of the army. By June 30th, specific plans for project implementation must be developed. The common position was announced by President Rumen Radev after the end of the meeting. The simultaneous development of three modernization projects - the ground troops, the air and the naval forces - was among the discussed ideas and the purchase of the new equipment to be made under a plan of deferred payment.

After the meeting Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said that there was no conflict between him and President Radev about the modernisation of the armed forces and whether to first buy fighter jets or equipment for the ground forces.

“We have no argument with the President that new aircraft, tanks and everything else are needed,” Borissov said.

Borissov’s idea is that negotiations need to be held with producers for rescheduled payment. This will release resources to renew the rest of the army.

He added that there were countries that had achieved a deferral of 15 to 20 years in payments.

Thus, it will be possible not only to modernise the air fleet, but also the equipment of the ground forces and the naval vessels, he added.

Krasimir Karakachanov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence said that what was the general opinion, and his opinion, was that the three projects should be developed simultaneously. “There is no logic that only two of the armed forces acquire new equipment and the others lag behind in this respect, he said.

The BSP said they were surprised by the shift in positions on how money for defence would be spent. BSP leader Kornelia Ninova criticized the government for not having envisdaged more money for the employees in the Security sector.

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