By Michael Winfrey

SOFIA, May 26 (Reuters) Bulgaria's parliament approved an agreement today allowing the United States to establish three military bases in the former Soviet satellite, despite strong public opposition to foreign troops.

The deal allows Washington to deploy 2,500 U S soldiers in the poor NATO member as it shifts focus from large Cold War-era installations in central Europe and Asia to smaller bases near potential hot-spots in the Middle East and Africa.

As expected, Bulgarian deputies voted 150 for to 20 against, with two abstaining, to approve an agreement signed by the Socialist-led government last month.

''These facilities will increase security in southeastern Europe and boost Bulgaria's role in the region,'' Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin told parliament ahead of the vote.

''They will also cut political and economic risk in Bulgaria by creating better conditions for foreign investment.'' The 10-year deal gives U S troops access to the Graf Ignatievo airfield in central Bulgaria and, close to the border with Turkey, the Bezmer airfield and Novo Selo firing range, as well as a storage facility at the Black Sea port of Bourgas.

The first troops are expected to arrive next year. Their number may double during rotation periods every six months.

The bases, seen by analysts as Sofia's way of repaying Washington for its 2004 NATO membership, are expected to bring tens of millions of dollars in badly needed investment.

But public opposition is high. Thousands protested during U S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Sofia to sign the deal in April, and a recent survey showed 60 per cent of Bulgaria's 7.7 million people oppose the bases.

Opposition parties fear the country could become entangled in U S conflicts, particularly if Washington attacks a third country from its territory.

''In the last 50 years, we have been at the mercy of the Soviet Union, and now this agreement is making us a dominion of the United States,'' said Stanislav Stanilov, a deputy from the nationalist opposition Attack party.

Rights groups have also expressed concern following charges the U S CIA used similar sites in neighbouring Romania - which signed a similar bases deal last year - and in other European states as secret jails.

Kalfin played down these fears, saying ''The United States is an ally country ... This is not a hostile military force. The agreement fully meets all of our national interests.'' REUTERS SHR BST1823