Former Defense Minister Krassimir Karakachanov said on the program "Denyat ON AIR" that the idea of European defense is a serious thing and at this stage Europe cannot do without the United States.
"For a long time, Europe did not make efforts to build defense capabilities. Von der Leyen will now burden us with 800 billion euros. During her time, all projects for the modernization of the German army failed. Bulgaria must give another 1.5 billion euros per year. In 4 years, it is 6 billion euros. We will pour them into the industries of several large countries," said the guest of Bulgaria ON AIR.
The whole idea of European defense is not well thought out, Karakachanov believes.
In his words, they do not tell us how they will create an alternative European defense, nor how and where they will distribute these 800 billion euros.
"Everything developed after Macron and Starmer tried to engage Trump with the policy of continuing the war in Ukraine. He rebuffed them, Zelensky was expelled from the White House and the next day all this started. Do we imagine it as a European defense union outside of NATO? Is NATO dissolving, are we leaving NATO? These people have no clear idea of what exactly they want to do," Karakachanov also commented.
He assumes that the idea of Von der Leyen and Macron is to pour a huge part of the aforementioned 800 billion. euros in their countries - Germany and France, and in smaller countries, nothing will develop in the defense industry.
"Komsomolsky reports and agrees with everything. We will create an agency for defense innovations. This means nothing. If you want something not to happen, you create a commission or an agency. There is a Defense Institute in the system of the Ministry of Defense. There is an Institute of Metallurgy at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences", emphasized Karakachanov.
He is of the opinion that Bulgaria should have restored the capabilities of its military-industrial complex a long time ago.
According to Karakachanov, we are spending billions of euros on old combat vehicles, instead of producing new and modern machines in the country.
"Zelensky angered Trump, Trump told him: I'm stopping your weapons. If Bulgaria steps on the wrong foot tomorrow, that's how another American president will judge. "It will turn out that we have some hardware that we cannot repair in Bulgaria," warned the former defense minister.
Karakachanov added that Bulgarian business has been eliminated at the expense of foreign companies and public procurement is not being carried out.