site.btaBulgarian Defence Minister Confers with French Counterpart Parly

Paris, March 28 (BTA) - Current matters within the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy featured on the agenda of the talks between Bulgarian Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov and Florence Parly, Minister for the Armed Forces of France, the Defence Ministry reported Tuesday.

The ministers put an emphasis on the European Defence Fund and the Permanent Structured Cooperation on Defence. Karakachanov noted that within the Bulgarian EU Council Presidency the efforts are directed at adopting the regulation establishing the European Defence Industrial Development Programme. The strive is to guarantee the participation of SMEs from the Member States. The two ministers expressed the common position that clear criteria for the European projects' funding are needed.

Both sides underscored their strive to achieve an increase of defence expenditure to 2 per cent of GDP. Parly congratulated Bulgaria on planning to meet this criteria in 2024, a year before France.

The Bulgarian Defence Minister acquainted his French counterpart with the main projects for the Bulgarian Armed Forces' modernization. Work is being done on making these more precise and coordinating the financial and operational technical framework, Karakachanov said.

The two ministers agreed on the establishment of a working group to discuss at expert level the opportunities for activating the European Defence Initiative.