Today, the Council of Ministers will propose to the National Assembly to allow the presence of up to eight American tanker planes at Bezmer airport. This was stated by Prime Minister Rumen Radev at the opening of the Annual Conference of Ambassadors.
He recalled that since February of this year, the planes have been positioned at the civilian airport in Sofia in complete secrecy from the public. In his words, “the government of Peevski and Borisov” allowed the basing of American military aircraft behind the backs of parliament and citizens.
“The government at the time said “yes” before they were asked. People should have understood from photos of passengers at the airport that there were some large planes there and asked themselves what they were there for,” Rumen Radev also said.
He explained that later Andrey Gyurov’s office extended the stay of the planes until May. However, when a new long-term extension was requested by the current government, it refused. “The problem was that the planes were based at the civilian airport, in the immediate vicinity of the capital. That is why we offered our allies to occupy military airports – Bezmer or Graf Ignatievo. They refused, so we immediately shortened the period of the permit to June 30,” the prime minister explained.
According to him, the denouement came on June 17, when the Bulgarian government received an official note from the American embassy. In it, the US officially requested the deployment of the aircraft at Bezmer Airport to support US operations in the Middle East, citing the 2006 cooperation agreement.
Despite the urgent request, Radev stressed that the cabinet had not given a unilateral permission, since according to Bulgarian legislation, such a decision must necessarily go through the National Assembly.
He summarized the cabinet's approach to allied relations as follows: “This is part of the important diplomacy and serious policy that Bulgaria must conduct in order to defend its national interests. We must always include our national interest in every decision, in every format”.