{"id":387442,"date":"2025-08-31T16:45:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T16:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/387442\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T16:45:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T16:45:11","slug":"von-der-leyen-visit-spotlights-bulgarias-uneasy-growth-as-european-arms-hub-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/387442\/","title":{"rendered":"Von der Leyen visit spotlights Bulgaria\u2019s uneasy growth as European arms hub \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kostadin Kostadinov, the leader of Revival who has previously spoken of Bulgaria\u2019s withdrawal from NATO, was filmed blocking a civilian car from entering the plant, according to a report<\/a> by Mediapool.<\/p>\n

The visit to Bulgaria\u2019s state-owned arms manufacturer comes on the heels of an announcement<\/a> by Germany\u2019s defense company Rheinmetall that it would build two new factories in the Balkan nation, including expanding facilities at Sopot, to establish Bulgaria as Europe\u2019s largest gunpowder manufacturer.<\/p>\n

During the Cold War, Bulgaria emerged as one of the Warsaw Pact\u2019s major arms producers, specializing in small arms, ammunition and light armored vehicles. But the collapse of the Soviet Union sent the sector into steep decline, shuttering many state-owned factories.
Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine has since breathed new life into Bulgaria\u2019s defense industry, turning the country into a crucial supplier of Soviet-standard ammunition for Kyiv \u2014 and reviving once-idle plants and\u00a0regions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe propaganda that the government is currently trying to put forward that there is about to be some sort of economic boom is completely untrue,\u201d Kostadinov told reporters. \u201cWill this plant be beneficial to us? We know gunpowder production is dangerous and dirty work. Why does Bulgaria not invest in military mobility or military electronics? Instead our country is for dangerous material,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, supporters of Velichie brandished axes in a livestream broadcast stating that they were “the bouquet that von der Leyen deserved.” The protests come on the back of a strong national anti-euro demonstrations.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen is on a seven-country tour of the so-called front-line states<\/a> to reassure them of the EU\u2019s support against Russian aggression<\/a>. In addition to Bulgaria, which borders the Black Sea, the Commission chief has visited Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland \u2014 all of which share a border with Russia or Belarus. On Monday, she will travel to Romania and Lithuania.<\/p>\n

Her trip coincides with increased efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to broker a ceasefire in Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s war against Ukraine, now in its fourth year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kostadin Kostadinov, the leader of Revival who has previously spoken of Bulgaria\u2019s withdrawal from NATO, was filmed blocking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2594,1111,768,134296,13489,346,473,7057,32,1112,2000,299,5187,7058,12336,769,1824,1113,1114,2597,23910,54490,6564,1438,332,657,49,1220,771,335],"class_list":{"0":"post-387442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-air-defense","9":"tag-belarus","10":"tag-borders","11":"tag-boyko-borissov","12":"tag-bulgaria","13":"tag-cars","14":"tag-defense","15":"tag-defense-budgets","16":"tag-donald-trump","17":"tag-estonia","18":"tag-eu","19":"tag-europe","20":"tag-european","21":"tag-european-defense","22":"tag-european-defense-policy","23":"tag-finland","24":"tag-germany","25":"tag-latvia","26":"tag-lithuania","27":"tag-military","28":"tag-military-mobility","29":"tag-multinational-defense-programs","30":"tag-neighborhood","31":"tag-romania","32":"tag-russia","33":"tag-ukraine","34":"tag-united-states","35":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","36":"tag-war","37":"tag-war-in-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115124392658862517","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}