site.btaVice President Iotova: First Task Is to Withdraw Large Group of Bulgarians from Israel

Vice President Iliana Iotova commented on the situation in the Middle East over the past two days and the exchange of air strikes between Israel and Iran. She said that Bulgaria is monitoring the situation in the Middle East very closely, a Coordination Centre has been established, and one of the first tasks is to withdraw a large group of Bulgarian artists visiting Israel. “As far as I understand, this is currently impossible, because the airports in Israel are not working,” she noted.

There was a lightning-fast reaction and a lightning-fast meeting with the heads of services by President Rumen Radev on Friday, the Vice President added.

Iotova described the situation in the Middle East as more than serious and added that measures must be taken in at least three directions. "First, it is time to insist, with the efforts of the entire international community, including the Bulgarian state, not just for the conflict between the two countries to be limited, but for them to immediately stop the hostilities. Because the conflict has all the prerequisites to be expanded if the so-called axis of resistance, which is on the side of Iran, is included. Then the expansion is inevitable," said the Vice President.

Iotova noted that the signals from the International Atomic Energy Agency are very worrying. "The second direction is the economic consequences, including for the whole of Europe. I do not understand why the position of the President of the European Commission, as well as the European institutions in general, is so vague for now. In this very serious situation, we cannot be satisfied with a few sentences in any social network. We have a High Representative for Foreign Affairs, and in such a situation, the minimum that needs to be done is to convene an extraordinary summit within the EU with the participation of all the leaders of all European countries," Iotova also stated.

Overall, there is a much more decisive intervention by international organizations, including the UN, she added.