The war in Ukraine has shown several very acute deficits - shortage of production, irregular deliveries, deficit of sustainability of production, markets and lack of any coordination between us as EU member states.
„In recent years, the topic of greater defense independence of the EU has been raised, for more capabilities, but many years have been missed. In the next annual financial framework, a serious financial resource has been set aside, which in the large chapter „Global Europe“ mostly doses our defense capabilities. However, I have some reservations. We will make every effort to mobilize the planned 800 billion EUR for defense capabilities and 150 billion EUR as the EC allocated to the member states to support defense production. But this is by no means enough. There is another worrying figure - that in this entire financial budget, only 15% is allocated for scientific discoveries and scientific work. The Bulgarian position on this issue is yet to be developed, but there is much to be desired regarding the SAFE instrument itself. Personally, I would like, when Bulgaria participates in this instrument, to give a much larger field for activity and work to Bulgarian companies in the defense industry“, said the President of Bulgaria Iliana Yotova during the official opening of the XVIIth exhibition of innovations in the defense sphere “HEMUS 2026“.
The President emphasized the enormous importance of Bulgaria as a security center country (Bulgaria is an external border of the EU and NATO) and the construction of many centers depends on us, especially in the Black Sea region, as well as the creation of the relevant infrastructure, which again has the address “security“.