Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

16 EU countries, including Bulgaria, will increase defense spending through higher budget deficit

Photo: BGNES

16 EU countries will ask to be allowed to temporarily not apply the rules on budgetary stability in order to be able to make defense spending. Bulgaria is among them, BTA reports. The European Commission presented a White Paper on the future of European defense, in which it proposes, as an exceptional measure, that member states use up to 1.5 percent of their GDP for 4 years on military spending, without fear of violating the budget rules that set a ceiling on deficits and government debts.

Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland have decided to request the activation of this clause, the 27 said in a communiqué.

At its last meeting, the Bulgarian government approved a decision to request the European Commission to activate the clause allowing for extraordinary defense financing for Bulgaria. This will allow the allocation of up to 3% of GDP for defense and rearmament of the Bulgarian army.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

The weather remains mostly cloudy and rainy, but with no precipitation in the southwestern regions

On Friday , the lowest temperatures will be between 5 and 10°C; in Sofia - it will be around 6°C. During the day it will be cloudy and with precipitation. In Northwestern Bulgaria the amounts will be significant. Almost no..

published on 11/6/25 7:50 PM
Iliana Iotova

Iliana Iotova: No one has reassured Bulgarians that there will be no fuel problems

''I am not surprised that the president’s veto concerning the sale of Lukoil’s assets was overturned, because even on such a delicate, serious and worrying issue, there were no arguments or discussion'', Vice President Iliana Iotova told journalists..

published on 11/6/25 5:54 PM
A press conference of the Bulgarian Association of Sterility and Reproductive Health

Birth rate in Bulgaria has decreased by 33% since 1994

Birth rate in Bulgaria has decreased by 33% over the past three decades. In 1994, 79,442 live births were registered in the country, while in 2024 the number dropped to 53,428. 6.5% of Bulgarian children are now born through in vitro fertilization..

published on 11/6/25 5:15 PM