Ukraine Deputy PM Praises Joint Army Brigade Proposal with Bulgaria, Romania

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko has said the idea to set up a joint army brigade with Bulgarian and Romanian forces sa "very timely and right."

In an interview with the Bulgarian National Radio, he has called Bulgaria "a reliable partner".

"Bulgaria has already gone down the road of reform where Ukraine is going now, including a military reform. This is why your experience will be very useful," Rozenko has added.

Admitting the ongoing tensions in Eastern Ukraine are affecting the overall economic performance of the country, he has asserted that a successful implementation of reform would show everyone that "the European choice was the right strategic course."

Asked to comment on a statement by EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker who had said the country would not join the bloc within the next 20-25 years, he has explained: "Ukraine's EU accession timetable depends exclusively on ourselves... If we do [reforms] better and faster, if we do a job of high quality, no-one will close the doors of the EU in front of us."

The idea of a joint army brigade was announced earlier this week by Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, amid a visit of his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis and several weeks after one by the Bulgarian head of state, Rosen Plevneliev. 

The annoucement of the joint brigade project has not been welcomed by all parties in Bulgaira's Parliament.

Rumen Petkov, deputy head of left-wing ABV party of President (2002-2012) Georgi Parvanov and a former Interior Minister, said on Saturday his party would submit an FOI with the Presidency, demanding that the latter make clarifications about Poroshenko's comments and to say whether Plevneliev took any commitment on behalf of Bulgaria.

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