"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 Wednesday , the lowest temperatures will be between 16 and 19°C; in Sofia - about 16°C. During the day it will be mostly sunny. In the afternoon, clouds will form again over Western Bulgaria and the Danube Plain and in some..
Young people in Bulgaria are ready to be part of the change, but they do not believe that they are given the opportunit y, indicate data of a national survey conducted by Research Center Trend, which was presented today by the association..
17,603 dogs were caught in the country in 2024 under municipal programmes to control the stray dog population. 3,778 of them, or nearly 22%, were adopted, according to the report on the implementation of the 2024 N ational Programme f or C..
President Rumen Radev is leaving for an official visit to the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, BTA reports. The..
The second F-16 Block 70 aircraft of the Bulgarian Air Force is now at the Third Air Base in Graf Ignatievo, the press center of the..
Bulgaria and Kazakhstan will work on the development of the Trans-Caspian international transport corridor, known as the "Middle Corridor". This was..
+359 2 9336 661