A decision for further downsizing the army will be taken on the basis of an assessment of the state of the Bulgarian army and possibilities for its modernization by March 1, it emerged on February 2. The assessment will be prepared by parallel groups from the Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Bulgarian Army.

The Bulgarian army can be reduced to under 45, 000 should its modernization be speeded up, Bulgarian Army Chief of the General Staff, General Nikola Kolev said during the Review of the National Defense Conference in Bulgaria's second-biggest town of Plovdiv. Still he stressed that 45,000-strong Bulgarian army is the critically low level for the armed forces of the country.

The size of the Bulgarian army must be adequate to the demographic situation in the country and its ability to carry out its national and NATO-assigned tasks, he underlined.