Prime minister Rumen Radev has sent an open letter to the political groups in the European Parliament, passed on through its president, Roberta Metsola. In it, he protests against point 6 of the Black Sea resolution adopted today, the Council of Ministers said. On behalf of the government, he voices strong disagreement and bewilderment at the text, which was added at the last minute.
The resolution came two days after a plenary debate in which Bulgarian MEPs asked for EU action against the attacks on merchant ships in the Black Sea.
See also: Bulgarian MEPs call for EU mission to protect Black Sea after Russian strikes
The document has no legal force. It backs Bulgaria in its investigation of the drone attacks on merchant ships and in the rescue of the crews. One of the ships hit was towed to the port of Burgas despite bad weather.
Point 6 was formally proposed by the Greens. It says the diplomatic response and the reaction to Russia are weak and that concrete action is missing. Radev says it in effect rejects the positive assessment of the fast action and the rescue operations in the earlier parts of the text. He says it also undermines the purpose of the document, which is solidarity with the two Black Sea countries. He calls the claims against the government groundless and manipulative.
Seven Bulgarian MEPs are among the authors of the resolution: Andrey Novakov, Andrey Kovatchev, Eva Maydell, Emil Radev, Iliya Lazarov, Radan Kanev and Ilhan Kyuchyuk. The prime minister calls this telling and sad. He says the government is busy with issues critical for security, while MEPs with limited political legitimacy at home are using the parliament for a doomed election campaign in Bulgaria.
"It is absurd for MEPs to call on us to join NATO's anti-drone initiative," Radev writes. The defence minister has already said Bulgaria is joining it. The governments of these MEPs did nothing to get Bulgaria into the initiative, which was announced in February 2025, the prime minister says.
"We also do not accept MEPs lecturing us in a patronising tone on what sovereign decisions the Bulgarian government should take," he adds.
The letter says the European Parliament has always been a respected institution that should strengthen the pro-European consensus, not create ground for manipulation and division. Bulgarians must know who represents them there and how, Radev writes.
He then lists what Bulgaria has done. Right after the first strikes, he called on NATO secretary general Mark Rutte, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president António Costa to join forces against the attacks.
On 13 October, two more merchant ships were attacked near Bulgaria's territorial waters. The same day, the prime minister summoned the Russian ambassador in Sofia and told him the attacks were unacceptable and that their logic leads to Russia.
At the European Council on 15 and 16 October, Radev met Rutte and Romanian president Nicusor Dan for three-way talks. At the session he proposed a moratorium to stop attacks on merchant shipping in the Black Sea. He also recalls that in 2022 Bulgaria was the first to join the European Sky Shield Initiative, under a caretaker government appointed by then president Radev.
Air and sea control and surveillance have been stepped up. For patrols, surveillance and reconnaissance over Bulgaria's territorial waters, the air force uses F-16, MiG-29, Su-25 and L-39 crews. Bulgaria has also deployed three drone surveillance systems with reconnaissance capability in the Black Sea.
NATO allies sent maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems and drones. A P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance plane arrived within hours of the decision and is already patrolling over the western part of the sea. Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania are continuing the joint mission of the Mine Countermeasures Group, which checks sea routes for floating mines. It is the first such initiative by the three NATO countries on the Black Sea coast.
At the government's invitation, an international team of experts with high-tech equipment is working out what drones were used in the attacks.
Radev reminds MEPs from other countries that an investigation is under way in Bulgaria and that the country is looking for the culprit together with its NATO and EU allies. The government insists that accusations over attacks in the exclusive economic zone must rest on firm facts, not hypotheses. At an extraordinary meeting of the North Atlantic Council on 20 October, all allies said they stand in solidarity with Bulgaria and Romania and are ready to support them.