site.btaPresident Radev: "We Must Show We Can Generate Capabilities and Have Tangible Contribution to European Defence"

Sofia, October 16 (BTA) - Addressing a discussion on security here Monday, Bulgarian President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Rumen Radev said Bulgaria must show that it can generate capabilities and have a tangible contribution to the common European defence. Mottoed "Together in Security. Bulgaria's Role in the Common European Defence", the forum brought together the President, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov, Party of European Socialists President Sergei Stanishev and Socialist party leader Kornelia Ninova.

President Radev said that in the recent years the EU is going through "a deep transformation of its perceptions of the role of military power and a more comprehensive approach is lurking in which the European leaders see in military power a new impulse for European integration". "We have to be very flexible and farsighted, and live up to these ideas," said the President.

He pointed out that it has been said clearly by everybody that the future EU forces cannot be a substitute for NATO but only complement it.

He also spoke about the strong fragmentation of the defence industry in the EU and said that while the EU has 186 basic armament platforms, the US only has 30. The financial losses from such fragmentation stand somewhere between 50 and 100 billion euro a year, Radev added.

He went on to call for integration of the research structures and organizations and said that the European Defence Fund set up earlier this year gives an opportunity Bulgaria can grab and be an active participant in these processes. The Fund can be an engine for the advancement of high tech and the EU defence policy.

The President also said that Bulgaria has a lot of catching up to do in the process of modernizing its Armed Forces.

The forum's moderator, Solomon Passy, who is the President of the Bulgarian Atlantic Club and a former Foreign Minister, said that the common European defence is "a burning priority for Europe".

He also said the aim of the forum is to outline the national views on common European defence.

PES President Stanishev said that traditionally, the EU has been a soft power and this is a huge advantage and a unique trait which needs to be cherished and developed. "Along with the political, economic and social solutions we need to show we have capacity and capabilities in defence and security as well," he said.

There are several factors which put the issue of security in the centre of the agenda: the changed security environment, destabilization of the EU periphery, the migrant wave, the terror threats, the infiltration of members of terrorist organizations, cyber threats.

Stanishev underscored the importance of the efficiency of defence spending.

He pointed out that the vast majority of EU citizens want Europe to do more for the European security and defence.

Stanishev also said that unless Bulgaria modernizes its Armed Forces, nobody will want it in the enhanced cooperation because each country will be expected to contribute capacity.

He said that the long delay of the modernization of its Armed Forces gives Bulgaria an opportunity to make this process a part of the all-European processes and save resources.