Officially – Bulgaria Buys F-16 After Lawmakers Overturned the Presidential Veto of a Deal with US

By TOC

SOFIA, (BM) – Bulgarian lawmakers overturned on Friday the presidential veto of a deal to purchase eight Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets from United States, clearing the way for Bulgaria’s biggest military purchase since the fall of Communism, learned BulgarianMilitary.com, quoting Reuters.

Read more: Bulgarian President Vetoed the $1.26 Bn Deal to Buy Eight New Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighter Jets

On Monday President Rumen Radev vetoed a decision by parliament to approve the $1.26 billion deal, describing a lack of consensus on the contracts as “extremely worrying”.

Bulgaria, a staunch Washington ally, is looking to replace its ageing Soviet-made MiG-29 aircraft after 2023 and improve its compliance with NATO standards.

Read more: The Bulgarian Parliament Approved the F-16`s Purchase, $1,25 Bn Will be Paid Out at Once

Bulgaria’s government agreed the deal with the United States two weeks ago, following a long-running saga that has seen a succession of Bulgarian governments fail to make a decision on which warplane to pick.

The motion to overrule the veto was passed on Friday by 128 votes in the 240-seat parliament, bringing together lawmakers from the ruling centre-right GERB party, two allies in the nationalist United Patriots formation and opposition deputies from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.

Read more: ‘Because of the National Security’, Bulgaria Revises Budget to Purchase Eight F-16 Jet Fighters

The Socialists, nationalist Attack party and small populist party Volya voted against.

“Тhe veto of the president is unnecessary and unreasonable,” Konstantin Popov, chair of parliamentary defence committee, told lawmakers. “It has clearly been proven that the motives are absolutely insubstantial.”

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BulgarianMilitary.com
Editorial team
Source: Reuters