Bulgaria's GERB Is Opposed to Restoring Compulsory Military Service

Bulgaria's largest ruling party, GERB, is in favour of keeping the professional army and is opposed to restoring the compulsory military service in the country.

This was stated by GERB MP Valentin Radev, deputy chairperson of the parliamentary defence committee and former deputy defence minister, in an interview for the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on Friday.

His comment comes after the Patriotic Front (PF), a party which supports the coalition government, tabled to parliament on Thursday a bill on the armed forces proposing the restoration of the compulsory military service.

According to Radev, GERB is of the opinion that the Bulgarian army should remain professional.

In his view, apart from the difficulties in find the necessary funding to keep a conscript army, there were also problems with training it.

He estimated that a conscript would cost the budget between BGN 2000 and BGN 3000 on a monthly basis.

Radev said that nevertheless the bill of PF will be discussed as it might offer useful proposals which could be used in the forthcoming review of the Reserve Forces Act.

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