Kristian Vigenin: Our military industry needs technological renewal

„For me, as a socialist, the idea that we will give a lot of money for armament instead of for social spending is not something I like. But given that this policy is going to be pursued, we must do what is needed so that Bulgarian companies can take part in this process. When such funds are invested, that means more opportunities for industry, jobs, higher wages. Bulgaria must act quickly. The Bulgarian military industry has great potential, but companies need support for technological renewal.“ This was stated by the head of the Delegation of the Bulgarian Socialists in the European Parliament Kristian Vigenin on Euronews Bulgaria.

„In the European Parliament the majority understands that the European Union really does need to catch up in the field of armament and defence. There are nuances in the approach because of the risks in the way it is financed. We, the Socialists, believe that the idea of redirecting money from the cohesion funds to armament is unrealistic, because it may create other problems“, the MEP commented. He expressed his concerns about the prospect of giving hundreds of billions without clarity on what will be done with these funds and how, because defence capabilities are not necessarily linked to buying and producing more weapons.

„There is no clear concept. Will there be the possibility in the longer term of building purely European capabilities? This rearmament would make sense if we were trying to create a European pillar of NATO that could act independently in certain situations“, Kristian Vigenin commented.

On the case of the Bulgarian European prosecutor Teodora Georgieva, Kristian Vigenin expressed satisfaction that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has taken action, because otherwise a stain would fall on it. „The Bulgarian institutions that fight corruption must become more active and assist in the investigation, because the suspicions are real and show deformations of the judicial system“, Vigenin pointed out. He also raised questions, how some of the staff are promoted and whether there is a system that supports certain people to move ahead in return for certain commitments, and also why the recording comes out years later, whether it is linked to a particular investigation and to commitments taken on that have not been fulfilled. The MEP expects answers from the institutions to all these questions, because they are owed to citizens.

On the vote of no confidence in the government, Kristian Vigenin commented that the vote shows that parliamentary support for the Zhelyazkov cabinet is not only not decreasing but, on the contrary, is widening.