Bulgaria’s Parliament mandates the government to provide assistance to Ukraine

Bulgaria’s Parliament on May 4 voted to mandate the government to discuss and implement measures related to the war in Ukraine, among them the repair of Ukrainian military equipment.

The MPs backed the proposal of “We Continue the Change” for military-technical assistance to Ukraine. This proposal was amended by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.

200 MPs, 16 voted against and one abstained. MPs from “Vazrazhdane”party and one MP from each WCC, BSP and TISP. There was one abstention from TISP.

The decision includes the texts of the letter that the Ukrainian ambassador in Sofia Vitaliy Moskalenko handed over to the National Assembly on behalf of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The requests are also based on the meeting between Bulgaria’s PM Kirill Petkov and Volodymyr Zelensky.

The final texts mandate the government in two main areas. The first is about a comprehensive package of measures to overcome the consequences of the economic sanctions. Bulgaria's energy and food security. And the second - to provide humanitarian, financial and military-technical assistance to Ukraine in accordance with Bulgaria's capacity.

Parliament also recorded exactly what the country's capabilities are:

- continued support for Ukraine's EU membership aspirations;

- assistance to Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war - legislative and organisational measures to improving reception capacities and integration opportunities until conditions are created for their permanent return to Ukraine;

- enabling the export of Ukrainian grain via the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Varna;

- strengthening energy cooperation - in particular electricity and natural gas supplies;

- repair of Ukrainian military equipment in Bulgarian military plants;

- continued delivery of humanitarian aid - clothing, medicine and foods.