The modernization processes of the Bulgarian army can have a very positive effect on the Bulgarian economy. This was said on the air of the Bulgarian National Radio - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Innovation and Growth Tomislav Donchev.
Currently, European funds - whether from the operational programs or from the recovery and resilience mechanism, cannot be spent on the armed forces and directly on the military industry. We have a number of political announcements that this could happen, without it being clear whether it will happen during the current programming period, whether we are talking about the national recovery plans, commented Donchev. In his words, when there are political announcements, political decisions are also reached.
Even if the security environment improves, we are doomed to invest in the next decade in defense. I think that the Bulgarian army should be mobilized with the help of the Bulgarian industry, Donchev added. The potential that we have should be awakened. The processes of modernization of the Bulgarian army can have a very positive effect on the Bulgarian economy, which will subsequently open up our export potential, he added.
Experience shows that when the world rearranges itself, and if we are quick and smart, we can take advantage of the changes, said the Deputy Prime Minister. When we talk about semiconductors, about capacities for the production of chips, integrated circuits, the first signs are there. Germany is investing in such a capacity. We are in an advanced stage of negotiations and I sincerely hope, if everything goes well, that we will have another capacity in this direction on our territory. We have production in the field of semiconductors, but I hope that in the coming months we will have more capacities, said Donchev. He indicated that it was a foreign investor, but did not provide further details.
Regarding the state budget, Donchev commented that the government's long-term course is towards reducing the deficit.
The fact is that three or four years ago Bulgaria broke with a course that had been followed for a quarter of a century - a prudent budget policy, a policy of zero deficits. Changing this course, returning to budget deficits takes time, it cannot happen without some of the systems financed by the budget experiencing pain. And we do not want that. This will happen smoothly, said Tomislav Donchev.
He added that the larger capital program is an expression of the government's ambitions to "unclog" European funding.
According to him, using the capital program as a spending buffer is an extremely bad practice. One of the main commitments of the state, besides guaranteeing order and security, as far as it manages to do so, is to improve the living environment, to invest in modernization policies - roads, railways, the water and sanitation sector, public buildings, kindergartens, schools. The very fact that there was a total outflow of investments in these policies prevented Bulgaria from developing adequately in recent years. This course must be returned, said Donchev.
We have the ambition to unblock the financing under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, where the delay is drastic, but we should still not forget that it is one third of the European financing. The operational programs are also very important here, said Donchev.