Lay-offs at Bulgaria's DefMin to Affect Only Administration, Not Army

Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev assured that lay-offs at his ministry will affect only the officials serving in the administration, with no servicemen to be dismissed.

Nenchev said this following the regular meeting of the Bulgarian government on Wednesday, daily Dnevnik informs.

The defence minister noted that an analysis on the exact number of administrative officials to be laid off was forthcoming.

Nenchev added that compared to the interior ministry, resignations were not being submitted on such a large scale in his ministry after the announcement of the draft budget for next year.

He expressed his gratitude to the ministry's officials, who demonstrated wisdom and understanding and largely refrained from protesting.

On the contrary, the proposed cuts in the draft budget of the interior ministry resulted in large-scale protests of police officers across the country last week.

Nenchev expressed delight with the allocation of more funds to defence, which was both featured in the strategy on the development of the armed forces and part of the commitments made by Bulgaria as a NATO member.

The commitment foresees increasing military spending to 2 % of GDP, with the target expected to be reached by 2024.

The minister said that the defence budget was gradually increasing and this was already assessed positively by the country's partners.

He added that the plans foresaw the construction of two new ships for the navy, with the vessels most likely to be built in Bulgaria.

There were also plans to equip the land forces with 13-14 machines.

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