NEWS

President Radev: Increasing the Defense Capabilities of Each Country Should not be Perceived as Coercion from Outside but as a Conscious Necessity

The NATO summit ended with a clear will confirming the Union’s unity and the intention to increase the defense capabilities of each member state. This is what President Rumen Radev told journalists in Brussels, where he took part in the Meeting of the state and government leaders of the NATO member states.

The Head of State identified as the most important result of the meeting the fact that a consensus was reached that the member states should work to ensure more defense capabilities. “At the last meeting of the Consultative Council for National Security I raised precisely this issue and it has been recorded as a decision that the National Plan for reaching 2 percent of the GDP allocated to defense should be reconsidered by September. I am sure that all plans will be speeded up,” Rumen Radev said and called for doing this carefully. “What is most important for us is that increasing the defense capabilities of each member state should not be perceived as coercion from outside but as a conscious necessity,” the Bulgarian Head of State said.

Asked about the atmosphere at today’s discussions, President Radev noted that the tone has calmed down. In the Head of State’s words, the topic concerning the increase to 4 percent of the GDP of the money allocated to defense in the national budgets, suggested yesterday by US President Donald Trump, will be left for a future discussion. “The arguments today concern when the 2 percent of the GDP allocated to defense will be reached. President Trump insisted that this should happen by 1 January 2019,” Rumen Radev said. However, within the meeting, the leaders of the European countries said that it should be taken into account that the parliamentary republics have the respective mechanisms in compliance with which the budget is set. “Each re-equipment and rearmament requires complex and responsible procedures that take time, let alone all elements that form the defense capabilities in terms of preparation,” Rumen Radev added.