site.btaNATO Command and Control Structure to Be Set up in Sofia

NATO Command and Control Structure to Be Set up in Sofia


Sofia, January 30 (BTA) - A NATO command and control structure
will be set up in Sofia and 50 per cent of the staff will be
made up by service members from NATO member countries, Defence
Minister Nikolay Nenchev said during Question Time in Parliament
Friday.

The Defence Ministry has never considered a possible
construction of a NATO command centre and a military base near
the city of Shabla (Northeastern Bulgaria) or on the territory
of Dobrich Region, and a decision to this end has not been
adopted, Nenchev told the MPs. The Alliance has never asked
Bulgaria to allow the construction of such a base, he
underscored. What will be built is a coordination centre which
will most probably be located in Sofia, but a decision on the
matter has not been adopted yet, he added.

Nenchev recalled that following a Council of Ministers'
decision, at the NATO 2014 Wales Summit the Bulgarian side
supported the 28 member countries' decision to undertake the
necessary measures for guaranteeing their protection in response
to the current threats. Nenchev added that one of the adopted
measures concerns the creation of NATO command and control
structures which will assist in the implementation of measures
for guaranteeing the security of the Alliance's member
countries. The structures' main functions will be coordination
and assistance in the planning and conduct of multinational
exercises and trainings of NATO synchronized with the national
planning, as well as the accommodation of other NATO units,
Nenchev said.

Earlier on Friday, Dragomir Stoynev MP of Bulgarian Socialist
Party - Left Bulgaria read a declaration on behalf of his party.
The socialists demanded an immediate explanation as to why the
Government has agreed to the permanent positioning of heavy
armament and equipment on Bulgarian territory, and insisted that
the Cabinet confirm the position of the previous government,
according to which Bulgaria will not participate with armed
forces in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. "We also expect the
Bulgarian government to declare that it will not allow the
Bulgarian territory to be used as a base for military actions
against Russia," the declaration reads.