site.bta Defence Minister Lists Trust in Army, Dignity Among His Key Priorities

Defence Minister Lists Trust in Army, Dignity  Among His Key Priorities


Sofia, November 13 (BTA) - Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev
Thursday listed among his key priorities the trust and dignity
in the Bulgarian army. He was speaking at the Annual Security
Conference at Sofia's Central Military Club, organized by the
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Sofia Security Forum.

Nenchev assured soldiers and officers that they can count on his
 support in every respect. He added that he stands behind every
single one of them individually and that he will fight together
with them for the image and dignity of the army.

The other priorities the Defence Minister listed are a clear
European and NATO integration, alignment of the Bulgarian army's
 standards with those of the Alliance, and rearmament. Nenchev
expressed concern with the fact that more than 2 billion leva
were spent in the last ten years - a big sum for Bulgaria and
its army - but without significant results. He stated he will be
 uncompromising towards every attempt at scattering resources
and at money not being used purposefully.

Asked whether he will manage to convince the Government and
Parliament to increase the budget for defence to 1.5 per cent of
 GDP, Nenchev said that there have already been several meetings
 of the Cabinet and that "the situation is tragic". "The legacy
is terrifying. It will be very difficult to conclude the year,
we are currently elaborating the budget for 2015, huge benefits
were missed by the government of [Plamen] Oresharski," the
Defence Minister explained. He said he is not very optimistic
but will continue to insist that the Defence Ministry's budget
be within the parameters set and that in the near future it
reach 2 per cent of GDP.

In his speech, Nenchev voiced concern with the developments in
Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East. In connection with
 the so-called Islamic State, Nenchev spoke about "the danger
whereby terrorist groups penetrate on the territory of Bulgaria
and try to rekindle dormant cells which can be extremely
dangerous". He said that the maximum possible should be done to
limit the possibility for such people to penetrate and perform
activity on the territory of Bulgaria.

Nenchev told reporters that there are no categorical and fully
confirmed data about involvement of Bulgarians in the Islamic
State. He said that there are only "suspicions" for such cases.

Taking a question about the "National Programme: Bulgaria in
NATO and in European Defence 2020", Nenchev said that he has
praised both the document and the people who worked on it. He
said the challenges are many and different.