site.btaPM Rules out Bulgarian Participation in European Military Operation against Islamic State

PM Rules out Bulgarian Participation in European Military Operation against Islamic State

Sofia/Blagoevgrad, November 19 (BTA) - Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said here Thursday that Bulgaria is not going to be involved in a possible Eropean operation against the Islamic State. Asked during a visit to the southerly town of Blagoevgrad, whether Bulgaria will commit troops in such an operation, he said: "No. I have always declared that ours is a country which does not fight and we insist that these problems should be solved by dimplomatic means."

"When you send airplanes and missiles, you cannot expect peace from the opposite side. We have to reconsider our behaviour - the behaviour of the EU and NATO, and see whether we have always pursued an adequate foreign policy and whether the things we have done produced the desired effects," Borissov also said.

The mutual defence clause

Asked to comment the French request for invoking a mutual defence clause in the Treaty on European Union, he said that "nothing of the kind has reached me" and that "many instruments need to be activated before we start to discuss these things and scare people off".

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov commented in the corridors of Parliament that in the procedure of Art. 42.7, the country invoking the mutual defence clause needs to approach each member state individually. France has not asked support from Bulgaria but the Bulgarian institutions "are ready to stand with France in a situation of retaliatory strikes and of reformulating the EU policy for a fast solution of the conflict there", Mitov added. He specified that the assistance Bulgaria is ready to provide, if asked, may be logistical, information or otherwise - not necessarily military.

He also said that a ground troops operation in Syria is unavoidable but a Bulgarian participation in military actions against ISIS is out of the question.

"The Bulgarian position is that it is essential to secure strong involvement of the countries in the region and Syria itself. Another thing is that a course should be steered towards a political solution to the civil war in Syria because this war created a vacuum that allowed ISIS to step in," said the Bulgarian top diplomat.

Bulgarian assault rifles

Asked about allegations that Bulgarian assault rifles were used in the Paris attacks, Borissov said that no Bulgarian assault rifles have been exported in the past 15-20 years.

Mitov said there are reports that the assault rifles in question were produced in the 1980s. "How one weapon finds its way from one place to another, can be established," he added.

Border security

The Prime Minister said that Bulgaria is doing a good job at protecting its border. "There have been zero migrants at the [green] border in the recent days which goes to show they understand that Bulgaria is a country where they cannot pass freely."

Asked whether participation in the Schengen Information System (SIS) is a chance for Bulgaria, Borissov said that SIS practically does not work. "It is more than a fact. The Schengen countries, especially Greece, do not fulfill their commitments under the Schengen agreement. Not to speak of Austria and Hungary where the migrant wave flows in a way that is certainly not described in the Schengen agreement. Bulgaria, which is not a Schengen country, much more strictly protects its border."

Russian sanctions

Mitov said that Syria is not connected in any way with the Ukraine case and Bulgaria and all EU member states have made the lifting of sanctions against Russia contingent on full compliance with the Minsk agreements. "There will be no reconsidering the position of Bulgaria or any other European country before the Minsk agreements are fulfilled in their entirety."

Mitov said though that there will be no solving the Syria crisis without dialogue with Russia but added that leaving Bashar al-Assad in power as a pre-condition is unacceptable.