President Rumen Radev sharply criticized MP from the ITN Toshko Yordanov during his visit to the "Graf Ignatievo" airbase today. The head of state commented on Yordanov's scandalous statement to young doctors and suggested that MPs be brought in for 500 leva.
"This irresponsible speech from the rostrum of Parliament has also been carried over into speech towards citizens and young Bulgarians. I do not find it normal. We, by this logic, let's bring in MPs for 500 leva each. "Maybe they are more responsible and engaged with young people," the president said, quoted by BTA.
Radev is at the airbase, where he is familiarizing himself with the process of accepting and mastering the F-16 Block 70 fighter jet and the stages of building the necessary infrastructure.
The president expressed serious concern about the readiness of the new F-16 fighter jets. "A wonderful aircraft with enormous combat capabilities, but in order for these capabilities to be practically realized, there must be a full package of ground equipment, spare parts, technical documentation, training and contracted services", he explained.
Radev recalled his veto from 2019: "Unfortunately, you remember that this package was drastically cut when concluding a contract in 2019, when I imposed a veto, and warned of significant difficulties in operating the aircraft".
According to the president, the first F-16 has been in Bulgaria for three months, but the number of flights it has made can be counted on the fingers of one hand. "The enthusiasm and responsibility of the flight engineering and technical staff alone are not enough to compensate for the lack of a full-fledged ground package and equipment", he emphasized.
The president warned that pilots can only fly until the first failure of the equipment, which is normal for a certain number of hours. "The main criterion for carrying out combat duty is the number of trained pilots. We will soon not have the number of trained pilots that would allow us to carry out full combat duty with the F-16", he said.
Radev recommended that the government react as quickly as possible and conclude a contract for integrated logistical support so that the aircraft can fly regularly and the pilots can train.
On the occasion of the upcoming vote of no confidence, the president drew attention to serious economic problems. "While public attention is engaged in internal party dramas, nostalgia for past premierships, measuring merit, black panthers, at the same time the hole in the budget has already jumped to over 2.5 billion", Radev said.
He emphasized that expenses are unstoppably outstripping revenues, and foreign direct investments are collapsing. "Against this background, the authorities' reassurances about prices sound increasingly unconvincing, given that their own control bodies have already begun to refute them", commented the head of state.
The president appealed for attention and a clear vision of how the country will get out of the financial spiral. "We also see it from the Ministry of Finance's report, which was late. Why? These are the important issues where I expect to see a clear vision, clear measures on how to restructure the Bulgarian economy, how to become more competitive," he said.
Despite the criticism, Radev thanked his US Air Force partners: "Since I took command of this base 20 years ago, we have started intensive exercises and exchanges with them. Thanks to this partnership, they are currently helping us outside the contract to help maintain the aircraft in good technical condition.".
The head of state noted that this cannot continue in this way and cannot compensate for all the missing activities and materials such as ground equipment. He expressed admiration for all the servicemen who are doing incredibly well despite the enormous workload.