Déjà vu: Bulgaria’s government approves contract on Javelin missiles
Bulgaria’s Rossen Zhelyazkov coalition government approved on February 26 a contract worth about 153 million leva for the purchase of US-made Javelin missiles, the government information service said.
The contract is subject to ratification by the National Assembly.
If the February 26 decision has a ring of familiarity about it, that is because the Javelin missiles contract also was on the agenda of the now-departed Dimitar Glavchev caretaker government in 2024 and early 2025.
However, in 2024, it was withdrawn from the agenda by then-caretaker defence minister Atanas Zapryanov, on the grounds of rescheduling the payment scheme and that there was too little time for Parliament to ratify it and the first payment to be made.
It was then approved on January 15 2025, as The Sofia Globe reported at the time, but on January 16, Parliament voted the Zhelyazkov Cabinet into office and Glavchev left office without having signed the previous day’s caretaker government’s decision, meaning that the contract could not be tabled in Parliament.
(This was not the only such case – on February 26, the Zhelyazkov Cabinet approved draft amendments to the Foreigners Act, in a decision identical to one taken by the Glavchev interim government on January 15).
Zapryanov, now in office as elected Defence Minister, said that the 153 million leva would be paid in instalments over several years, with 55.8 million leva coming from the 2025 budget.
The acquisition of the Javelin missiles is linked to Bulgaria’s acquisition of US-made Stryker armoured combat vehicles.
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