Amendment to Defence Act Would Allow Hosting NATO Command Centre

The Bulgarian government proposed an amendment to the Defence Act, which would allow for the stationing of the proposed NATO command centre in the country.

The bill will provide an international organisation functioning on the country's territory with the legal right to supplement its personnel with Bulgarian troops and citizens, Darik radio reports.

One such example is the NATO Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence, which is already operating on Bulgarian territory.

The bill provides military personnel to be posted to the new structure for a period of up to three years.

The amendment also addresses the employment of civilians and civil servants, rules on remuneration and career growth.

The idea for the command centre emerged after Bulgaria was successively visited by three high level officials in January.

In the space of a week Bulgaria received British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, US State Secretary John Kerry and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Last week, both Stoltenberg and Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev confirmed that NATO is to station a command centre in Sofia.

Nenchev dismissed rumours that NATO is to station military bases and revealed that the coordination centre will employ 50 people - half of them being Bulgarians, the other half foreigners.

The centre will possess technological information resources and will coordinate different military drills and trainings.