Day in 3 news: No cabinet with first mandate; Bulgaria F-16s to get electronic warfare modules; Sofia airport passengers surpass pre-Covid levels

Dnevnik

Day in 3 news: No cabinet with first mandate; Bulgaria F-16s to get electronic warfare modules; Sofia airport passengers surpass pre-Covid levels

Dnevnik

© Dnevnik


GERB's proposed cabinet fails to gain approval, new elections likely

Boyko Borissov's party did not manage to gather enough support for the proposed cabinet of former Parliament speaker Rosen Zhelyazkov. After a three-hour debate, the motion was dismissed with 138 votes against. The votes against included all other parties that had already declared opposition the cabinet, as well as a third of MRF's MPs. Only 98 MPs, including all of GERB's 68 MPs and 30 MRF deputies close to party co-chair Delyan Peevski, supported the motion.

The split in MRF signals a deep divide in the ethnic corporatist party, which is increasingly dominated by the Magnitsky-sanctioned mogul Peevski who has been progressively eliminating senior cadres loyal to the Honorary chairman of the movement, Ahmed Dogan. Earlier on Wednesday, the latest dismissed senior MRF politician, Ramadan Atalay, openly attacked Peevski for his usurpation of power in a bTV interview.

The failure to approve the Zhelyazkov government hints at a likely early vote in the autumn, as GERB leader Boyko Borissov once again underlined during the parliamentary debate today that his party won't back a cabinet with the third mandate and any other potential cabinet options seem highly unlikely to pass in the fragmented 50th National Assembly.

New F-16 radio electronic warfare equipment to be made available for Bulgarian jets

The US Department of Defense has contracted Lockheed Martin to produce radio electronic warfare equipment for F-16 fighter jets. Bulgaria is among the countries to be supplied with such US warplanes, the Pentagon said on its website.

The fixed price of the new module should not exceed USD 520.4 million. Lockheed Martin has been awarded the production of "Viper Shield radio electronic warfare kits for the F-16" based on a previous contract.

Apart from Bulgaria, the other countries that will receive such US military aircraft equipped with Viper Shield are Slovakia, Taiwan, Bahrain and Morocco. The contract is expected to be completed by 30 June 2028. Bulgaria expects its first batch of new F-16 fighters to arrive by mid-2025.

Number Sofia Airport passengers in 2023 surpasses pre-pandemic levels

More than 7.2 million passengers passed through Sofia Airport in 2023, exceeding the number of passengers in the year before the pandemic. In 2019, passengers were just over 7 million. The airport concessionaire Meridiam plans to increase the number of passengers to 8.2 million by 2026. Six new airlines started operating flights to and from the airport last year. According to Meridiam data, 60% of all airlines are low-cost.

Following Bulgaria's entry into Schengen by air, new X-ray equipment for baggage and liquid screening has been installed at Terminal 1, and both terminals now have separate arrival and departure areas. At Terminal 2, electronic boarding pass control gates have been installed, making passage easier, the company said.

GERB's proposed cabinet fails to gain approval, new elections likely

Boyko Borissov's party did not manage to gather enough support for the proposed cabinet of former Parliament speaker Rosen Zhelyazkov. After a three-hour debate, the motion was dismissed with 138 votes against. The votes against included all other parties that had already declared opposition the cabinet, as well as a third of MRF's MPs. Only 98 MPs, including all of GERB's 68 MPs and 30 MRF deputies close to party co-chair Delyan Peevski, supported the motion.

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