Caretaker PM after meeting on Middle East: No current threat to Bulgaria’s security
There is no current threat to the security of Bulgaria, caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev said after presiding over an October 2 meeting of the cabinet security council regarding the situation in the Middle East.
“We have united to call for the de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, which is in sync with the European position,” Glavchev said.
Caretaker Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov said that the level of threat to Bulgaria is low, but in spite of this, the Interior Ministry was taking measures for increased protection of sensitive sites, including the embassy of Israel and potentially endangered citizens of Israel.
“At the moment, there is no evidence that the security environment of Bulgarian citizens is threatened, but we have taken all preventive measures. We have strengthened security measures at the Israeli embassy,” Ilkov said.
Glavchev said that a situation headquarters has been set up with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Elena Shekerletova as its head.
Representatives of relevant ministries and services will be included in the headquarters, so that the situation can be monitored operationally,” Glavchev said.
“Bulgaria reacted extremely adequately to the evacuation of Bulgarian citizens from Lebanon. This was the result of preliminary preparation and information that we had both from the Bulgarian (security) services as well as from partner and allied services,” he said.
On October 2, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said that in view of the Iranian attack against Israel on October 1, and Israel’s announcement of its intention to retaliate, the European Commission and EASA had decided to issue an CZIB (Conflict Zone Information Bulletin) recommending operators not to perform flights in the airspace of Iran at all flight levels.
The recommendation is valid until October 31 2024 and can be reviewed earlier, and adapted or withdrawn, subject to the revised assessment, EASA said.
EASA said that it would continue to monitor the situation closely, to assess whether there is an increase or decrease of risks for EU aircraft operators as a result of the evolution of the threat.
Earlier, on September 28, Bulgarian national flag carrier Bulgaria Air said that due to the official recommendation of the European Commission and the EASA, it had cancelled all flights to/from Israel until October 15.
“The measure is imposed to fully ensure the safety of passengers and cabin crew in view of the ongoing situation in the Middle East,” Bulgaria Air said.
(Photo of Glavchev: government.bg)
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