site.bta Bulgarian Armed Forces Already Only Partly Capable of Fulfilling their Tasks - Defence Minister

Bulgarian Armed Forces Already Only Partly Capable of Fulfilling their Tasks - Defence Minister

Sofia, April 12 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Government Wednesday approved the 2016 Annual Report on the Status of Defence and the Armed Forces and will submit it to Parliament for debate and approval, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Stefan Yanev told journalists here on Wednesday.

"The draft informs the public and the future National Assembly of the status of defence and the armed forces and on the urgent tasks that we are handling until the end of 2017," Yanev said.

"The Bulgarian Armed Forces are already only partly capable of fulfilling their tasks under the missions arising from the constitutional duties to guarantee the country's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within the framework of NATO collective defence," the Deputy PM pointed out.

One of the main reasons for this is underfinancing, as a result of which the armed forces are between 25 and 30 per cent undermanned. The Defence Ministry, jointly with other central government departments, is drafting a National Plan under which defence spending is to reach 2 per cent of GDP by 2022, Yanev said.

In 2016, efforts focussed on the missions and tasks assigned to the armed force by the Constitution and on Bulgaria's commitments within NATO and the EU Common Security and Defence Policy in conditions of persistent resource restrictions. The country continued implementing the Programme for the Development of the Defence Capabilities of the Bulgarian Armed Forces 2020 and the Armed Forces' Development Plan, which is based on it, as well as the NATO Capability Targets 2013 Package and the 55 Capability Targets including the training of 50 formations, to which Bulgaria has committed itself.

In 2016 the armed forces conducted 258 exercises, concentrated in battalion-size tactical units. Elements and individual service persons took part in 14 overseas NATO, EU and UN missions and operations. Approximately 760 service persons were involved in planned rotations during the year, the report notes.

A total of 100 specialized elements were in constant readiness and carried out 152 disaster response operations, involving 815 service persons and 161 units of equipment. More than 2,700 service persons were deployed at the border with Turkey until the end of 2016 for a joint border protection operation with the Interior Ministry authorities.

As a result of the radically changed security environment and the new requirements to the defence capabilities of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, key decisions were adopted on their modernization: in June 2016 the National Assembly approved investment projects for the procurement of a new type of fighter aircraft for the Air Force and two multi-role modular patrol ships for the Navy.

The radically changed security environment also calls for a debate on achieving sustained political consensus and an immediate increase of the defence budget to 2 per cent of GDP, in line with the decisions of the NATO Summit in Wales, the report points out.