site.btaParliamentary Ad Hoc Commission to Look into Pick of New Fighter Jet for Bulgarian Air Force

Parliamentary Ad Hoc Commission to Look into Pick of New Fighter Jet for Bulgarian Air Force

Sofia, June 28 (BTA) - An ad hoc parliamentary committee was set up Wednesday to investigate the procedure for selecting a new type of fighter aircraft for the Air Force. The proposal came from Tsvetan Tsvetanov (GERB) and a group of other MPs.

The committee will function for two months. It is chaired by Emil Hristov (GERB), and the deputy chairman is Hristo Gadjev (GERB). It has a total of 19 members from all parliamentary groups, elected on a proportional basis (8 from GERB, 6 from the Socialist party, 2 each from the United Patriots and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and 1 from Volya).

In the course of two hours, the MPs argued passionately whether or not it was necessary to have the committee. The Socialists and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms were against.

Under the Air Force modernization project, Bulgaria has planned to buy eight new fighter aircraft at a total cost of 1,500 million leva. Three bids were submitted: for new Gripens (Griffin) from Sweden's Saab, for used Eurofighter Typhoons from Italy, or for used US-made F-16s to be purchased from Portugal. An expert working group has recommended the Swedish offer, and President Rumen Radev (a former Air Force Commander) has backed this option, too. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov expressed reservations, then told his Swedish counterpart the government intends to go ahead with negotiating a deal with Gripen - and finally GERB said they wanted a parliamentary committee of inquiry to probe the selection of the Gripens and make sure there was no corruption or pressure involved.

Konstantin Popov of GERB argued during the Wednesday debate in Parliament that the establishment of the committee aims to ensure transparency - not to halt the acquisition of a new type of fighter aircraft. "The main task of the committee is to examine all facts about the selection procedure and the actions of all officials in analyzing the summarizing the results," he said. Another task is to make sure there was independence when the decision was made about which type of fighter jet to pick.

The committee will prepare the MPs for the upcoming ratification of the agreement with the supplier country, said Popov. It is important for the committee to be a guarantor that the rules of competition apply in picking the supplier, and that lobbyist interests, external interferences, emotional decisions, political leanings and personal ambitions are excluded from the process, he added.

Kornelia Ninova reiterated what she had already said: that the committee of inquiry is being established in response to the will declared by President Rumen Radev for fighting high-level corruption. She argued that the GERB motion for the committee was driven by fear and panic.

Vladimir Toshev (GERB) was another one who saw fear but among the opposition. "Maybe you are afraid that the report of the ad hoc committee will make it clear who headed the working group which set out the criteria for choosing the aircraft, who headed the working group which wrote the proposal for an inquiry to the producers and who was the mentor of the government which made the decision for the new aircraft. It is Gen. It is Radev's name at all stages," Toshev said referring to President Rumen Radev.

National Assembly Chair Dimiter Glavchev interrupted Toshev telling him not to get the President involved.

This MP then sent on to say that there are over 4,500 F-16s across the world used in scores of armed conflicts, as well as 250 Gripens and some 470 Eurofighters which have never been used in armed conflict. "We donТt want to attack the President. We want to see who and how pre-determined the selection of the Gripens," he added.

According to the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), the establishment of the ad hoc committee was yet another attempt by the government to pass on the responsibility to Parliament. MRF's Yordan Tsonev recalled that the parliamentary decision of 2016 says clearly what the steps and the timeframe are, and that the deadline for contracting a supplier was December 2016. "This procedure was not observed by the second Borissov government," he said adding that the parliamentary inquiry will block and torpedo the procedure for acquisition of new jets. "Why can't the present government make a decision that it different from that of the caretaker government? There is no need to pass on the responsibility!" he commented.