“We, the Socialists in Bulgaria in the European Parliament, support the idea of more serious investments in defense, aiming to build a more stable perspective for the European defense and security.”, said the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Delegation in the European Parliament Kristian Vigenin in an interview for BG on AIR television. He expressed his concern that hundreds of billions were being discussed for defence without an analysis of the capabilities of European industry. “Can Europe actually benefit from these billions in the next year or two years, does it have the capacity to do so? It needs to invest in development so that it can develop the capacity to produce what is needed and not let this money go again to foreign industries, especially American. We need to very quickly clarify what we want to achieve and how to achieve it.”, Vigenin commented.

“European security is not built only through armament and weapons. It is also about social security, investments in infrastructure, and everything related to the well-being of citizens. Our concern as socialists is that the cart is being put before the horse before the threats and the means to overcome are clearly defined. For more than a week, we’ve been hearing about billions that need to come from somewhere, and we’ll take loans.”, emphasized Kristian Vigenin. He disagreed with the idea that budget deficit restrictions apply when it comes to loans for infrastructure or social policies, while now loans are being proposed to buy weapons without considering them as excessive deficits.

Kristian Vigenin called the hypothesis of using cohesion funds for armament unacceptable: “In my opinion, what we can do with these funds is to invest primarily in infrastructure, which is also important for European defense – road, railway, digital. For example, the Burgas-Varna highway – the Black Sea highway – is such a project, which is for civilian use but could potentially become an important logistical corridor for defense.”

The head of the Delegation of the Bulgarian Socialists in the EP noted that the European Union is not yet at the negotiating table for peace in Ukraine because the situation is different and the EU keeps talking about how it will provide more funding, more weapons, until Ukraine wins the war. “Against this background, the US, Ukraine and Russia are talking about a ceasefire. They are talking about a plan to get to a lasting peace. And while the world is moving forward, the conflict is going in a completely different direction, the EU is stuck at the stage it was three years ago – pushing Ukraine to continue the war and literally lying to it that it is able to replace American aid.”, the MEP stressed.

“I think it is time for realism in European politics. If that happens, the perspectives are different. But if we continue with this ideological approach, we will get nowhere.”,  Kristian Vigenin concluded.