US embassy cable - 05SOFIA124

C O N F I D E N T I A L  SOFIA 000124 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/19/15 
TAGS: PREL, MOPS, MARR, IZ, BU 
SUBJECT: DEFENSE MINISTER PLEADS FOR DEMONSTRATION OF 
U.S. SUPPORT ON IRAQ 
 
REFS: A) SOFIA 0027 B) SOFIA 0067 
 
(U) CLASSIFIED BY CDA JEFF LEVINE FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) 
AND (D). 
 
1. (C) Summary.  Defense Minister Svinarov called the 
Charge to his office January 19 to repeat a now- 
familiar refrain:  the current government must 
demonstrate to its electorate that there are tangible 
benefits to its deployment of troops in Iraq.  The 
alternative, according to Svinarov, will be the public 
perception that this government's Iraq policy has been 
a failure.  Deputy Defense Minister Ilko Dimitrov will 
carry this message to Washington next week, and 
Svinarov will follow suit when he attends the National 
Prayer breakfast in February.  Svinarov provided the 
Charge with a non-paper outlining areas for improved 
defense cooperation, and asked for a meeting with 
SecDef in February.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) Svinarov met with the Charge in advance of his 
deputy's trip to Washington to stress how important it 
is for the current government to demonstrate close 
relations with the United States, as well as the 
benefits of such a relationship.  In doing so, he 
echoed the words of almost every cabinet-level 
official with whom we have regular contact, including 
most recently Deputy Prime Minister Shuleva (ref A). 
Since that meeting, the leader of the opposition 
Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has turned up the heat 
on the government by calling Bulgaria's troop 
deployment in Iraq "a costly adventure" and demanding 
the immediate withdrawal of Bulgarian forces (ref B). 
 
3. (C) The Socialist's promise to withdraw Bulgarian 
troops from Iraq if they win the June elections drew 
widespread condemnation from the mainstream press and 
center-right political parties, but polls show it is a 
popular position.  The most recent poll, conducted 
January 10-12, shows 55 percent of Bulgarians support 
the BSP position on withdrawing from Iraq and only 34 
percent oppose.  Svinarov alluded to this pressure 
when he told the Charge that "it is important to show 
concrete progress in bilateral relations" and to 
demonstrate the practical benefits of Bulgaria's 
policy in a way that people can see, "especially in 
economic terms."  A major step in this direction would 
be for deputy MOD Dimitrov to return from Washington 
with deliverables in the area of defense industrial 
cooperation.  To this end, Svinarov provided the 
Charge with a non-paper outlining a proposed bilateral 
agreement on defense cooperation (see below). 
 
4. (C) Dimitrov said the cut in Bulgaria's Foreign 
Military Financing (FMF) -- so far not reported in the 
press -- increases the government's political 
vulnerability.  According to Dimitrov, there is also 
the perception that other countries (e.g., Poland) 
have benefited economically from deploying troops to 
Iraq, but Bulgaria has not.  Dimitrov told the Charge 
afterwards that Bulgaria has reached "a critical 
moment" with regard to Iraq.  If the government cannot 
show that Bulgaria has benefited in tangible ways from 
its participation in the Iraq coalition, "the BSP 
arguments will become real," Dimitrov said. 
 
5. (C) Comment.  Requests such as Svinarov's are 
likely to become more frequent as we get closer to the 
June elections.  Svinarov has said publicly that 
Bulgaria will review its troop deployment in February, 
after the Iraqi elections, but has been vague about 
the process to be used.  End comment. 
 
6. (SBU)  Text of the MOD non-paper follows: 
 
--  The bilateral relations between Bulgaria and the 
USA are in a phase of making them more dynamic and 
enlarging the scope of cooperation in a number of 
important areas including the defense and military- 
technical cooperation. 
 
--  In practical terms the bilateral relations in the 
area of defense are being promoted to the level of 
strategic partnership and cooperation in compliance 
with the political will of the leaderships of both 
countries and resulting from the changed strategic 
security environment. 
 
 
--  The existing 1994 Memorandum of Defense Cooperation 
and Relations between the Ministry of Defense of the 
Republic of Bulgaria and the US Department of Defense, 
though, does not reflect the core of the enhanced and 
more comprehensive cooperation. 
 
--  The promotion of the BU-US scope of cooperation in 
the military field to Strategic Partnership could be 
done through a new bilateral agreement based on the 
following key principles: 
 
- durability, stability and good planning; 
- mutual benefits, pragmatism; 
- complexity and systematic approach; 
- taking account the interests of each of the Parties. 
 
--  Major areas of cooperation: 
 
- Investments and joint projects; 
- Cooperation in R&D; 
- Construction and improvement of military 
infrastructure for joint/combined use; 
- Modernization and re-armament; 
- Education, training and joint/combined exercises. 
 
--  To that end more intensive and deep relations 
between the two Defense establishments in the field of 
acquisition based on a total-package approach, aimed at 
acquiring collectively owned capabilities, pool of 
forces and other forms of strategic cooperation, are 
required.