Stoltenberg thanked Bulgaria for providing Military Aid to Ukraine

Bulgarian PM Nikolay Denkov (left) and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (right)

Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov stated that next year Bulgaria will achieve its goal of 2 percent of GDP for defense. In a joint briefing with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Alliance headquarters, he stressed:

"This year it will be slightly below 1.9 percent, for next year we have already planned 2 percent and this is included in the budget. For 2025, we have planned well over 2 percent, because investments are planned to improve defense, in the technical groups that will then have to be paid. Things will move up and down a bit, but we are absolutely committed to going above the 2 percent as decided recently."

"We are making efforts to catch up on some delays in building our defense capacity and we are counting on support," the prime minister said.

Bulgaria is on the front line of some of the biggest challenges we have faced since the start of the war in Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said:

"I thank Bulgaria for providing military protection to Ukraine. This helps Ukrainians to assert their right to self-defense as enshrined in the UN Charter. To continue to strengthen NATO and our support for Ukraine, we must invest more in our security. And I count on Bulgaria to make a commitment to a more ambitious investment in defense, which it will decide on at the summit in Vilnius".

In addition, he thanked for the deployed international forces of NATO, and also for Bulgaria's role in the pushback in the Black Sea.

NATO has no intention of sending more troops to Bulgaria because, as Stoltenberg said, this has happened several times in the last year. However, this does not prevent the Alliance from monitoring the situation and monitoring developments to see if this will not be necessary in the future.

"The risks became very visible when Russia invaded Ukraine, because it was clear that for the first time since the Second World War someone in Europe was ready to violate the borders. Recent events do not change the picture much. We are at the same risk and the best way to reduce this risk is to help Ukraine, because Ukraine's victory - victory - in the sense of them regaining their territories - is the best way to protect the rest of the countries in Europe, including Bulgaria. Regarding defense spending," said Nikolay Denkov.

"The war in Ukraine did not start in February last year. It actually started back in 2014. And since then NATO has taken serious steps and moved serious forces to the Eastern flank. So we will continue to meet all the needs and at the meeting in Vilnius it will be agreed the preparation of new force structures that can react as whenever and where needed," said Jens Stoltenberg.

Bulgaria invited experts and customs officials from Germany, Austria and the Netherlands to come for observation, but also to get involved in guarding the Bulgarian-Turkish border, which is outside the European Union. Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov made this proposal after talks with the Chancellors of Germany, Olaf Scholz, and Austria, Karl Nehammer, as well as with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte.

Denkov was in Brussels, where he participated in the EU leaders' summit. The Prime Minister also visited the NATO headquarters, where he met with the Secretary General of the Pact, Jens Stoltenberg.

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