The budget will ensure the filling of vacant positions, the outflow from the army has stopped. This was said by the Minister of Defense Atanas Zapryanov in the parliamentary defense committee today. The committee supported the draft law on the state budget of the Republic of Bulgaria for 2025 on first reading.
The tool - an increase in the salaries of military personnel, works, but there must also be a social package, the minister pointed out. Preliminary admission to military schools is taking up 70% of the announced places, Zapryanov added.
I think we will fill, this year, with this budget, we will take another 1,000 places, if we have a larger budget we will take 3,000 with this application, but we are in no hurry, the minister explained and added that for the first time there are three to five candidates for one place.
I have accepted the proposal of the Chief of Defense, they will determine which are the priority formations in order to fill them first, Atanas Zapryanov said yesterday.
Many of our candidates are dropping out for health reasons - in some places we have up to 60%, sick, mentally unstable, the minister said.
A few days ago, the minister announced that for the first time in many years for 2024, the number of those entering military service was greater than that of those leaving. At the end of January, the basis for determining the basic monthly salary for the lowest position of military personnel in the Ministry of Defense, the structures directly subordinate to the Minister of Defense and the Bulgarian Army was determined - in the amount of 2296 leva.
According to Atanas Zapryanov, it has finally become clear that our country will receive the first eight F-16 aircraft this year. The American inspection group is very satisfied with the state of the infrastructure at the Graf Ignatievo airbase and this will not be an obstacle to receiving the fighters, the minister also said.