Bulgaria has never been officially part of the "Coalition of the Willing", answers the Minister of Foreign Affairs Velislava Petrova-Chamova to a parliamentary question published on the website of the National Assembly, BTA reports.
The MP from "Democratic Bulgaria" Atanas Slavov asks our Foreign Minister "when and on what legally valid basis was the decision made to withdraw the country from the international partnership format "Coalition of the Willing", as well as whether an impact assessment was made regarding the impact on strategic national interests of the declared withdrawal".
Velislava Petrova replies that the issue needs to be clarified. Bulgaria has never officially been part of the "Coalition of the Willing", which is confirmed by the lack of an act in this direction by the Council of Ministers, including by previous governments, or by the National Assembly. In this regard, Bulgaria could not have made a decision to withdraw from the informal group of countries in the "Coalition of the Willing", to which it has never officially joined, the Minister also replies.
"Coalition of the Willing" has an informal and flexible nature, is not an international organization and has no formal membership in it, therefore it is not subject to a formal procedure for coordination and interdepartmental approval, explains Velislava Petrova.
"The Coalition of the Willing" is a group of Western countries that supports Ukraine's defense against Russia, for which Prime Minister Rumen Radev stated that "Bulgaria's place is not in the "Coalition of the Willing". He also said that he personally received an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to participate in the coalition.