NATO Command Centre in Sofia
Can Be Set Up without
Legislative Changes


Brussels, February 5 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) -
Speaking to Bulgarian journalists in Brussels, Defence Minister
Nikolay Nenchev said NATO's future command and control centre in
Sofia can be set up without legislative amendments or
Parliament's sanction. He took part in the NATO defence
ministerial here on Thursday.

Asked if Parliament must pronounce on this matter, Nenchev said
it was not necessary because it was not required either by any
law or by the Constitution. He added that there was no cause for
concern and that the defence ministers had not made any
particular new decisions at the meeting. "We discussed the
decisions of the NATO 2014 Wales Summit," he said.

Nenchev said that a Constitutional Court ruling gave grounds to
assume that being a NATO Member State, Bulgaria has the right to
participate in joint activities and exercises with the other
NATO countries in its own territory. He said that there was an
ongoing discussion which would be finalized soon, and that
Bulgaria was ready to create this centre. "In this volatile
environment Bulgaria, which is located at a crossroads and could
face obvious problems of all kinds, needs to safeguard its
security," said Nenchev.

He added that the time when the centre would go into operation
had not been specified yet. Also, it could be financed by
Bulgaria alone, by NATO alone, or jointly. The Defence Minister
did not specify what financing would be needed for the
headquarters in Sofia. There is no aggressive attitude to any
country, the defence ministers discussed ways to improve
coordination, he said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said before the meeting
that "this is a very critical time for security in Europe, and
across the world".

He said: "In Ukraine, violence is getting worse and the crisis
is deepening. Russia continues to disregard international rules
and to support the separatists with advanced weapons, training
and forces. In North Africa and the Middle East, violent
extremism is spreading. And this turmoil fuels terrorism in our
own countries. So we are adapting our posture and our forces to
this changing security environment. To conduct NATO's full range
of missions. And to deal with challenges from any direction."

Stoltenberg said the command and control units in Bulgaria,
Romania, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia would make it
easier to deploy NATO forces rapidly. "They will be key for
connecting national forces with NATO reinforcements. We are also
working on enhancing the multinational command northeast in
Szczecin (Poland) and we are also looking into developing
something similar or parallel thing in the southern part of, the
eastern part of the Alliance," he said.

Answering a question, Stoltenberg said: "Everything we do, when
it comes to increasing our own collective defence, by
establishing an enhanced NATO Response Force and establishing
the very high readiness force, the Spearhead Force, is something
which is defensive, it is a response to what we are seeing from
Russia over a period of time, and it is in full accordance with
our international obligations."

Asked by Russian media at a news conference if the six countries
where new NATO command and control centres will be set up are
faced with an external threat, Stoltenberg said that there was
no specific immediate threat to them. PK/DD



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