The agreement with Ukraine was signed without being coordinated with the president. This was said for the program "Metronome" on Radio FOCUS by Meglena Plugchieva, Secretary for Foreign Policy to the President Iliana Yotova.
"This is a solo action by the government and shows not only ignorance of the procedures, but also trampling on all these mechanisms and procedures. The content makes it clear that this is a use of the old agreement from 2024, and it does not reflect any substantive changes at all, namely the dynamics of the process surrounding the conflict in Ukraine. In recent years, peace negotiations have been held, diplomacy has been included - all of this is now absent," she commented.
We recall that caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov signed an agreement with Ukraine to allocate 17,284,000 euros (20,000,000 USD) for financial participation in the country's armament mechanism.
The decision, which caused discontent in political circles and the Internet, was made on March 27 and published on March 30 on the portal of the Council of Ministers.
"This is a weak document that is of no benefit to anyone," Plugchieva was categorical.
"Moreover, a protocol is added there, commenting on the Bulgarian language, but without considering all the schools in which there is a compact Bulgarian community. There are many questions surrounding this agreement," she added.
"I consulted with prominent lawyers in international law and when an agreement contains an element concerning the defense and security of the country, then it must necessarily go through ratification in the National Assembly. You see that despite the fact that we have a functioning parliament - all deputies are conducting an election campaign," said the President's Secretary for Foreign Policy.
"If there is such an element, then there must be ratification. It is expected that whether this, or the next National Assembly - will have this commitment. The bad thing was that a few days ago the deputies did not gather a quorum and this topic was left hanging in the air again, but the strange thing is that everyone is shifting the focus of attention to the president. Accordingly, the commitments on foreign policy, defense, security, we must be aware that they are first in the National Assembly - it leads the foreign policy of the state and accordingly it is implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the president," Plugchieva was categorical.