site.btaPresident Rumen Radev Discusses Defence Spending, War in Ukraine

Europe must reform its governance structures and decision-making process in order to be able to make decisions faster, to be able to mobilize its resources faster, because what we see in models like China and others is quite different, said President Rumen Radev Wednesday at the opening of The Economist magazine forum in Sofia.

The head of State is an honoured guest and lecturer at the forum. The event brought together representatives of state institutions, diplomats, representatives of businesses and the banking sector.

The President added that Europe must continue with its moral leadership, its ethical attitude towards human rights, the rule of law without losing its competitiveness. "Europe must develop a much broader innovative economy, starting with the extraction of raw materials and ending with a successful final industry, production from its own raw materials. For this to be successful, the efforts of many countries are needed", Radev said.

He stressed that the European Commission is already calling for an increase in defence spending, which, in his words, is "a big challenge for many countries' budgets". "This may be an ambition, but can Europe achieve such a percentage?", the President asked, adding that Europe as a social community would have to assess whether this is possible. "These costs can only be determined through cohesion between the individual countries, the accord between the countries is very important. Just as in 2019, when this topic was raised and it was said that each member state should achieve 2% of its gross domestic product for defence. This 2% is actually put into the economies of the countries. Countries such as Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and others are taking this 2% from their economies and putting it into the economies of major countries. If this continues, the economic gap between countries will continue to grow", the Head of State said.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, the President said that there are enough opportunities and capacity to talk at a political level and to start paving the way to peace. He added that in 2024 he had said that a diplomatic solution should be found that would be acceptable to all sides. "Let us give Ukraine the opportunity to decide its future", Radev added. "The solution cannot be reached without Europe's participation. Ukraine aspires to be a member of the EU and this is linked to the future of this country and we need to look into the future and see where this country belongs so that there can be a sustainable solution to this issue", the President said, adding that borders are not taken by force.

NATO allies committed to spending at least 2% of their GDP on defence—a target that may be increased during the next NATO summit in June. US President Donald Trump urges NATO allies to spend 5% on defence—a level Washington currently does not reach. "How high the new NATO spending target will be is subject to debate", said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Monday. "But I can assure you of one thing: it will be much, much, much more than 2%," Rutte added.