CAAB

SofiaEcho.com Issue 42: October 17 to 23, 2003

Staff reporter

NATO expects that Bulgaria will join the future NATO Response Force (NRF),
it transpired after a meeting in Sofia between Bulgarian Defence Minister
Nikolai Svinarov and the Commander of Allied Forces for Southern Europe,
Admiral Gregory Johnson, on October 14.

Johnson said that NATO is going through a process of radical transformation, which necessitates the establishment of well-trained interoperable response forces expected to number 20 000. A total of 6000 will serve as rapid-reaction forces, Svinarov said. Bulgaria will also take an active part in the NRF. The exact number of Bulgarian servicemen, however, will be specified as early as May 2004, when Bulgaria is expected to join the alliance as a full-fledged member.

Johnson said new dates were being considered for the previously postponed
visit to Bulgaria by Commander of NATO forces in Europe General James Jones. He is expected to report on the possible establishment of NATO military bases in Bulgaria.

Returning from a meeting of all defence ministers and chiefs of staff of NATO member states and aspirant countries, held in Colorado Springs on October 8 and 9, Svinarov said there would be a relocation of military bases.

The bases issue is to be put to Parliament.

"It is very important for our partners that there is consensus among all parliamentary forces in Bulgaria on this issue," Svinarov said.

In Colorado Springs, it emerged that Bulgaria and Romania may possibly join a
US anti-missile programme by hosting Patriot complexes along the Black sea
coast and in the Eastern Rhodope mountains.

Johnson said he was not well-acquainted with the idea to set up a missile defence system in Bulgaria, but said threats to international security were growing every day, and this had to be taken into consideration.

He spoke highly of the role that Bulgaria's naval forces might play in strengthening NATO's southeast flank along the Black Sea coast, which is of strategic significance.