"The Bulgarian army is currently 5,600 soldiers short. One of the reasons is the low starting salary of 608 Leva a month," said Defence Minister Krasimir Karakachanov. In his words the most serious problem is that around 30-40 percent of the people applying for professional soldiers are unfit for reasons of health or education.
He added that before a conscription army can be reinstated, for which he says he will be supported by GERB party, the number of military education classes at school must be increased and voluntary service introduced.
Karakachanov says further that the EU is not ready to set up a single defence structure, an idea Bulgaria supports:
"Bulgaria is in favour of the formation of such a defence structure but that is a process. Seeing as we have NATO, this compatibility must be looked into, how a European defence will fit into the picture. There are European countries which are not members of NATO. There are European countries which are more skeptical, others are more enthusiastic like France and Germany."
On Saturday, the lowest temperatures will be between 0 and 5°C; in Sofia - it will be around 0°C. During the day it will be mostly sunny. In the Danube Plain it will be foggy. Until noon it will also be foggy along the river..
The Bulgarian Ministry of Defense is requesting a postponement of one of the large payments under the contract for the second F-16 to 2028. Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov said that this is necessary because Bulgaria will encounter difficulties in..
Great Britain has issued a special license on Friday that allows businesses to continue to work with two Bulgarian subsidiaries of sanctioned Russian oil company Lukoil, Reuters and BNR Horizont reported. The general license allows companies and banks to..
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