For the time being, there are no plans to establish or deploy a NATO multifunctional division headquarters in or around NATO, Bulgarian Defence Minister Todor Tagarev wrote in a letter to Yambol Regional Governor Bilyana Kavaldzhieva - Dimitrova, the Yambol Regional Administration said in a press release on Thursday.
"The options for the location of the multinational battlegroup are being analyzed," Tagarev also wrote. He called attention to the benefits of the deployment of the multinational battlegroup in the administrative region concerned: attracting substantial investments in roads, sewerage, social and other type infrastructure, improvement of the business climate, creation of new jobs and increase of the incomes of local residents.
Members of the public and representatives of political parties staged a protest in Yambol on Wednesday evening against the stationing of a NATO multinational division headquarters near the city. Signatures started to be collected under a petition mottoed "Yambol does not want NATO bases!"
The action was prompted by Tagarev's statements about plans to set up an infrastructure for stationing a multinational battlegroup in the region of Yambol.
The protest was organized by local representatives of The Left! Coalition. It was attended by the leaders of two parties in the coalition, Rumen Petkov of ABV and Tatyana Doncheva of Movement 21. Representatives of Vazrazhdane and the Bulgarian Socialist Party were also there.
Bulgaria hosts a NATO multinational battlegroup, led by Italy as a framework nation, which is to be upgraded from its present battalion size to brigade level.
/RY/
news.modal.text
