site.btaSocialists Call for Resignation of Defence Minister Over Joint Air Space Protection Legislation

Socialists Call for Resignation of Defence Minister Over Joint Air Space Protection Legislation

Sofia, October 1 (BTA) - The parliamentary group of the
Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Thursday called for the
resignation of Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev over proposed
legislation allowing Bulgaria to protect its air space jointly
with another NATO country. From Parliament's rostrum, the
Socialists' deputy floor leader Atanas Merdjanov said Nenchev
must come down immediately.

"The dismantling of the Bulgarian Air Force and the Armed
Forces, of the border itself, did not start yesterday but
Minister Nenchev is determined to see it through," Merdjanov
said. In his words, the bill of amendments to the Defence and
Armed Forces Act that was made public September 30 appears to be
 the finale of a carefully prepared process of assigning powers
in the Bulgarian air space to other countries' forces. 

The Reformist Bloc, however, believe that the true reason for
the resignation calls is that Bulgaria and Poland are close to a
 deal about the repair of Bulgaria's old MiG fighters.

Merdjanov said: "Bulgaria, which until recently took pride in
its Air Force and the feats of its military aviation, cannot
afford the crippling of its capabilities on account of the
servility of an incompetent minister."

He also blamed the Defence Minister for thwarting the last
meeting of the Consultative Council for National Security on
August 27 when he was expected to convince the participants that
 more money needs to be provided for defence. "What happened is
that we got into an absurd situation in which a proposal for
increased funding resulted in an agreement for reducing the
budget," said Merdjanov.

He mentioned another case involving the deployment of heavy
combat equipment in Bulgaria last summer. "Nenchev denied to
have agreed to that, said he had spoken with the American
Ambassador in Sofia, she allegedly told him something but he
misunderstood. A diplomatic scandal followed, the Minister had
to give explanations and the US Ambassador left the country."

The Left supported the calls of the Movement for Rights and
Freedoms for holding a meeting of the Consultative Council on
National Security over the Syrian crisis.

Ataka said they would back the demand for Nenchev's resignation.
 Ataka's Dessislav Choukolov called the Minister "inept" and
said his group has been calling for his replacement for months
now. 

Ataka are strongly against the proposed legislation allowing
joint protection of the air space. "This amendment will allow
Turkey to overfly us undisturbed. Our sky will be given away to
Turkey: that is the purpose of this amendment," Choukoulov said.
 
Reformist Bloc MP Boris Stanimirov told reporters in the
corridors of Parliament that the motives of the Socialists and
Ataka are more likely connected with the upcoming contract with
Poland for the MiGs' repair. "These two parties apparently want
the fighter aircraft repaired somewhere else."

Stanimirov called the idea for the amendment "quite natural".
"There is a decision for purchase of new fighter aircraft but
this requires time and money. Until then, a decision was made to
 repair the MiGs and possibly use in the meantime what all other
 EU countries and most NATO countries have been using: joint air
 policing patrols,"  he said. 
   
Stanimirov added that he did not expect this to involve Turkish
aircraft because the established practice is not to use aircraft
 of neighbouring countries. Also, it is logical that these would
 be countries of the EU, he added.