President Iotova: Bulgaria and Romania Will Insist that Black Sea Security Be Added as Extraordinary Item to the Agenda of the Upcoming European Council Meeting

Bulgaria and Romania are joining forces to put an end to military attacks and the use of drones in the Black Sea.

Following a telephone conversation with her Romanian counterpart on October 14, Bulgarian President Iliana Iotova announced in Burgas that the two countries would call for Black Sea security to be added as an extraordinary item on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of European leaders in Brussels.

Iliana Iotova, President of the Republic of Bulgaria: “We want this to be given special emphasis because of what has been happening, particularly here, in recent days. But, as you know, there have also been incidents in Romania’s exclusive economic zone, as well as in Türkiye’s zone, where there have been even more.

So we agreed to act together. The two foreign ministries are currently working on a consolidated text, which will focus mainly on two areas. The first is the facts as they stand – the threats to the safety of shipping and to the Black Sea as a whole, and the assistance we can receive from the EU, both in terms of enhanced surveillance and in terms of the investigation.

We continue to believe that we can obtain the relevant equipment from the European Maritime Safety Agency to carry out a thorough investigation into the ship that sank during the first incidents, and, if possible, into the second vessel as well, which sank two days ago.”