Bulgarian President calls national security council meeting on state of armed forces
Bulgarian President Rossen Plevneliev has called a meeting of the Consultative Council on National Security for April 27 to discuss the state of Bulgaria’s armed forces and the prospects for future development.
Defence Minister Nikolai Nenchev will present a report on the issue, with Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kouneva and two intelligence service directors invited to participate in addition to the other members of the council.
Plevneliev’s announcement comes only a day after Georgi Purvanov – former president of Bulgaria and current leader of socialist splinter group ABC – called for a council meeting to be held to discuss a number of issues, including whether Nato training exercises in Bulgaria might be interpreted as “hostile” by Russia.
Ironically, Purvanov – who has mostly avoided making any appearances alongside his successor in the presidential office – is not eligible to attend the council’s meetings because he chose not to stand for MP at the parliamentary elections held in October 2014 and cannot represent ABC’s parliamentary group.
Plevneliev called several meetings of the council in the first half of last year, to discuss issues ranging from the ongoing crisis in Ukraine to Bulgaria’s political crisis, but this will be the first meeting of the council since June 2014, which agreed the timetable for early elections in the country.
(Photo: president.bg)
