On December 6, the Government removed from its agenda the deal with France’s Armaris for the construction of four GOWIND corvettes for the Bulgarian military.

The 750 million euro deal was discussed at political level between President Georgi Purvanov and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy on October 4 in Bulgaria.

Although the deal was widely advertised by Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov as one of the most successful arms trade offset deals on December 6, the Government decided to buy two frigates and a minesweeper from Belgium, all three second-hand. The price of the deal is 54 million euro.

In a 23 million euro deal in 2005, Bulgaria bought the 20-year-old Belgian frigate Vandelaar, which today serves under the name Druzki in the Bulgarian navy. This year Druzki took part in a Nato patrolling operation in Lebanese waters.

The December 6 decision means that Sarkozy’s efforts could have been in vain since Defence Minister Vesselin Bliznakov told reporters on December 7 that the country’s budget for the next three years will not be able to support the 750 million euro corvette deal. “We are not giving up on the corvettes for good but our prognosis say that we will not have the money for them in the next three years,” Bliznakov said.