Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev and senior officers congratulated the Bulgarian contingents abroad via videoconferencing on the occasion of the forthcoming Day of Valor and the Bulgarian Army on May 6. It is 23 years on this same date since the first Bulgarian peacekeeping mission in Cambodia. On such occasions it is customary to give praise for a job well done, to extend wishes for health and success, to make promises of motivating our soldiers in performing their duty so far from home. This time the videoconference lacked the usual pomp and circumstance and was a much more modest affair, as befits what is today Bulgaria’s modest participation in international NATO and EU operations.

At this time, Bulgaria has just over 140 soldiers abroad – some 110 are taking part in the NATO mission in Afghanistan, 10 in the NATO operation in Kosovo, 10 in the EU operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is a 4-member medical team as part of the EUCAP Sahel Mali. Just over a year ago, this country had 483 soldiers in missions abroad – besides Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia and Mali, there were Bulgarian servicemen in Georgia, Somalia and Liberia. Until last year, a total of 9,000 Bulgarian soldiers had taken part in the mission in Afghanistan on the rotation principle and even before the country’s accession to NATO or the EU, over two years – 1992-1993 – Bulgaria took part in the UN mission in Cambodia with 1,300 peacekeepers.

Even though today Bulgaria’s participation in military operations abroad has gone down, mostly because of the altered political and military-political setup, this is due also to financial hardships. It was no coincidence that during the videoconference when congratulations were in order, the defence minister spoke of a shortage of funding for repairs of combat aircraft and the difficult dilemma whether to keep the air force in defence readiness by repairing the Russian fighter planes or to purchase aircraft of Western make. Meanwhile one senior officer admitted there was no clarity as to what would happen to the Afghanistan contingent next year.

But the army is expecting a positive development. On the eve of the Day of Valor and the Bulgarian Army, Minister Nenchev announced that in June parliament would approve a defence development programme costing some EUR 2 billion and did not rule out an update of the defence budget by the end of the year. Taking part in international operations is an integral part of the development of any armed forces, so it is still “mission possible”.

English version: Milena Daynova