site.btaMEP Kristian Vigenin: Rearmament Funds Should Go to European Industry

It is important that the funds from the EU Rearmament Plan go to the European industry and in particular the Bulgarian industry, said the Bulgarian MEP Kristian Vigenin of the S&D group in an interview with BTA.

In March, the European Commission presented a White Paper on European Defence - Readiness for 2030 and the ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030, which will make available over EUR 800 billion.

“It is important for us that these funds go to the European industry, and the Bulgarian industry in particular. The government in Bulgaria needs to work very quickly and seriously on the subject of how to modernize factories, especially the large ones, because there are smaller, private ones that have taken uo certain niches and are even already producing to NATO standards. Much of our military production works with Soviet-era licences and is exported to areas that still use such weapons,” Vigenin said.

If we want to use European money, we will have to produce products that are interoperable within the EU. There is a risk that this process will pass us by. If we do not have the new assembly lines, we may find ourselves in a situation where we cannot use EU funds, the MEP said.

“Within the EU we cannot produce everything we need. There are very substantial imports from the US. The aim should be to become independent of foreign imports. To be sustainable, independent and secure, we need to have an industry that can produce everything we need,” Kristian Vigenin said.

“The Socialists in the European Parliament support this initiative in principle, but we are particularly sensitive about the means.  We do not want to encroach on cohesion policy. Our understanding is that security is not just military security, it also includes social security, economic sustainability and competitiveness. More elements are contained in the strengthening of EU security and defence,” the Bulgarian MEP said. Priority could be given to some of the cohesion policy projects that could also have an important military purpose - highways, railways, digital infrastructure. One such project, which is also in NATO's priorities, is the Black Sea highway, Vigenin explained.

We can achieve a qualitative change, in terms of our capabilities, if we focus a bit more on improving coordination, Kristian Vigenin noted.