Position
12 June 2024 News
With reference to the Bucharest Nine — B9[1] Summit held in Riga, Latvia, on 11 June this year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to make the following clarification:
In the course of preparations for the meeting, discussions were held on a possible joint statement. Due to reservations expressed by one country, but not by Bulgaria, it was decided to issue a ‘Statement on behalf of the Chairpersons’ — Poland, Romania and Latvia. The content of this statement is based on the texts agreed during the discussions. At the same time, we note that statements in this format are political in nature, express general positions, and cannot be treated as binding.
In the course of the discussions Bulgaria has defended our consistent national positions and commitments expressed at various levels and formats in NATO on the issues addressed in the statement. As regards the text in the statement on ‘the continuation and strengthening of multilateral support to Ukraine, including through military, financial or humanitarian means’ (in this sentence the conjunction ‘and’ has been replaced by ‘or’ at the suggestion of President Rumen Radev), it fully corresponds to our positions, which are in favour of the collective nature of assistance to Ukraine in all the listed areas. This is in line with the preparation of the decision on a more solid and predictable framework for Alliance support to Ukraine. At this critical juncture, NATO allies are seeking more effective ways to consolidate assistance to Ukraine, including through the establishment of a predictable, long-term and coherent mechanism and an equitable distribution of burdens and responsibilities among allies.
[1] The B-9 is a multilateral format for consultation and dialogue on security issues involving Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
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