All parliamentary groups submit a draft of armed forces law increasing military pay by 30%. This was announced at a briefing by GERB MP Hristo Gadjev. He expressed hope that the project will pass by the end of this parliament and wants a quick decree from the president. The idea to be a fact by May 6. The law will enter into force on January 1, 2025, and the money will be deposited in the budget for the following year 2025.
The Bulgarian army is a national institution, said Acting Minister of Defense Atanas Zapryanov. It is not permissible to have military formations without a single officer, and there is a serious outflow from the army, Minister Zapryanov is worried. Such a decision will be a motivation for the military, Zapryanov believes. And so the military would know that the state has not forgotten them.
Zapryanov expects reports of desertion to decrease, the trend of desertion to be reversed, and he even thinks there will be increased interest in military service.
For me, this decision is proof of statesmanship, said the head of defense Emil Evtimov. According to him, the measure will lead to the detention of the military on duty. About the stock - the Ministry of Defense will be rejuvenating and refreshing it, and they even expect volunteer reservists.
Regarding the calls, one of the tasks is to move to keeping an electronic record of the stock and to make the disclosure by electronic means:
"These call signs - whether they are paper or electronic, they do not mean that we are getting used to these people in the ranks of the army. This is only part of the military report. We do not envisage mobilisations, deployment of these formations, but only maintenance of readiness", pointed out Zapryanov.
Earlier, Minister Zapryanov insisted on an increase in military spending to 2.5% of the Gross Domestic Product and on updating the pay of military personnel.
"We are working on the strategic review for a complex social package. We already know that in NATO, and now at the Summit, 2 percent will be considered the minimum defense spending. We need to make these additional costs in people. It becomes a paradox that at some point we will have the modern techniques, but we will not have personnel. This worries both the political leadership and the military leadership," he said.
Atanas Zapryanov clarified that the issue of conscription is not on the agenda as a political decision, but it is on the agenda as a discussion.