site.btaFebruary 27, 2003: Bulgarian Government Approves Letter of Intent and Schedule of Reforms ahead of NATO Accession

On February 27, 2003, the Bulgarian government approved a letter of intent and a schedule of reforms in connection with Bulgaria's accession to NATO. This country officially joined the Alliance in 2004.

On March 29, 2004, at ceremony at the US Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., Prime Ministers Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha of Bulgaria, Juhan Parts of Estonia, Indulis Emsis of Latvia, Algirdas Brazauskas of Lithuania, Adrian Nastase of Romania, Mikulas Dzurinda of Slovakia and Anton Rop of Slovenia handed instruments of their countries’ ratification of North Atlantic Treaty to US Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who accepts them on behalf of his Department as Depository of Treaty. At the White House, US President George W. Bush received NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and the heads of government of the seven new members. Bulgaria thus joined NATO as its 20th member country in organization’s fifth and largest 'Bing Bang' wave of enlargement.

Following is the BTA story on the adoption of the said documents by the Bulgarian government on February 27, 2003:

Government Approves Documents Relevant to Bulgaria's NATO Accession

Sofia, February 27 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Government Thursday approved a Letter of Intent and a Timetable for Completion of Reforms in connection with this country's accession to NATO, said the government press office.

The draft Letter of Intent is identical for all invitees and is drafted and presented by the NATO International Staff. In this document, each State declares that it accepts the obligations and commitments arising from future membership. An invitee is also required to submit a timetable for completion of the reforms on which progress is expected to be achieved before and after accession to NATO.

The Timetable for Bulgaria envisages attainment of objectives in five areas: political and economic, defence and military, resources, security, and legal. The objections in the political and economic area are building a comprehensive legal framework for the fight against corruption, carrying out the judicial reform, organized crime control and border control, implementation of a responsible policy in arms and dual-use goods and technolotgies export controls; guaranteeing economic stability, etc.

The objectives in the defence and military area include an ongoing process of armed forces restructuring and financial resourcing of this process; continued building of an effective defence planning system; readiness to declare forces and capabilities for participation in Allied actions etc.

The resources area consists of a single objective: ensuring national contributions to NATO's jointly financed programmes and budgets. The objectives in the security area concern safeguarding of classified information. The objectives in the legal area are related to Bulgaria's accession to NATO legal instruments.

The Letter of Intent and the Timetable of Reforms are to be handed to NATO Secretary General George Robertson after the meeting of the NATO Senior Political Committee in a 19 plus 1 format on March 7, 2003 and before the March 26 signing of the Accession Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty for each of the invited countries. This is the final stage of the accession talks. VI/LG