Bulgarian Economy Minister: I will Approve All Arms Deals that are OK. I cannot Restrict Exports to any Country

"I will sign all the gun deals that are OK. Now an awful lot are blocked - over 250 for over a billion BGN, because the previous management team at the Ministry of Economy did not follow the law. I cannot restrict exports to any country. This could have been done by the regular government with a parliament behind it". This was stated in an interview on Nova TV by the Acting Minister of Economy, Nikola Stoyanov, who succeeded Kornelia Ninova in the post.

The arms deals

Already at his first press conference, the caretaker minister stated that a bomb had been planted in front of 230-240 arms deals for over 1 billion leva, which former minister Kornelia Ninova did not move. Today, Minister Stoyanov stated:

"There are an awful lot of transactions blocked. There are already over 250. This week I will unblock the process. They have been waiting for a month and a half. This is not only export, there is also import, materials. Enterprises cannot work. The entire military-industrial sector is blocked in this way".

He said of his predecessor's behavior:

"I cannot explain why there was this passivity and why the former minister allowed these things. I spoke to the experts from the commission. I asked them: 'Weren't you ready until now? What happened?' They told me: 'No, we were ready on time. We informed the management, they refused'. I have no explanation. By law, there is a 30-day period. They did not comply with the law".

Weapons for Ukraine

"I have never accused Mrs. Ninova of exporting weapons to Ukraine" - Stoyanov pointed out in response to a question about criticism of her predecessor. "I am put in a situation to sign these documents, which have...