Parliament decided Bulgaria to provide military aid to Ukraine

After 4 hours of debate on November 3, the Parliament decided Bulgaria to provide military aid to Ukraine.

The caretaker government is to submit a draft decision on the military and military-technical assistance that Bulgaria should provide to Ukraine. within 30 days, as well as to enter into negotiations with NATO countries to acquire, receive or deploy capabilities enhancing the defence capabilities on Bulgaria’s territory.

As expected, the text was supported by GERB-UDF, "We Continue the Change", Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) and "Democratic Bulgaria". They were joined by "Bulgaria Ascending", which initially disagreed, but today changed their minds and proposed a revision in the text. The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and "Vazrazhdane" voted against the draft decision.

The November 3 vote came a day after a joint meeting of Parliament’s committees on foreign affairs and defence that approved a draft decisions tabled by Democratic Bulgaria and by GERB-UDF in favour of supplying weapons to Ukraine.

Foreign Policy and Defence Committees approved draft resolutions on Bulgaria providing military assistance to Ukraine

Surprisingly, “Bulgaria Ascending” party, which last night (November 2),at the joint meeting of the committees.opposed the sending of arms, today said it would support it, but only on condition that Bulgaria receives a replacement military capacity and proposed amendments to the text of the draft decision.

The party's leader, who was a former caretaker prime minister and former defence minister Stefan Yanev, proposed an amendment to the text, according to which Bulgaria "should provide armaments in accordance with Bulgarian capabilities and the timeframes and capabilities of NATO and EU allies", i.e. to send weapons only if we first receive NATO replacement.

GERB-UDF MP Ekaterina Zaharieva proposed the deadline for negotiations with NATO to receive a replacement capability to be 30 days, which is also the deadline for submitting the decision by the cabinet. Yanev accepted her proposal and withdrew his. MPs adopted this wording, after which the final vote took place.

Otherwise, there was already a clear majority around the idea of sending weapons - GERB-UDF, "We Continue the Change", MRF and "Democratic Bulgaria". According to them, the country should have sent support months earlier, during the visit of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to the Bulgarian Parliament.

According to BSP and "Vazrazhdane", this decision will indirectly involve Bulgaria in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

It will be up to the Ministry of Defence to decide exactly what the country could give to Ukraine. Caretaker Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov has already said that Bulgaria cannot provide the C-300 anti-aircraft missile complexes, the Tochka-U operational-tactical missiles and the MiG-29 aircraft, in which the Ukrainian side has repeatedly expressed interest.

Speaking to reporters after the vote, caretaker Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said the proposal would be very conservative.

The Defence Ministry will write its homework in conformity with Parliament's decision and its proposal will be very conservative, caretaker Defence Minister said.

He added that this conservatism stems from Article 9 of the Constitution, which reads that the Armed Forces guarantee the security, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Bulgaria, and from Article 3 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which reads that every country will maintain and develop its individual capacity to resist armed attack.

Images by BGNES