site.btaPresident Says Politicians Should Not Lose Touch with Armed Forces

President Rumen Radev, Wednesday said politicians must not lose touch with the Bulgarian Armed Forces in order to be aware of the implications of their defence and security decisions, his Press Secretariat said. Addressing the leadership of the Reserve Officers and Noncommissioned Officers Union (RONU), the President, who is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, said: "There is a clear tendency for more and more positions of responsibility in the legislative and executive powers to be occupied by many people who do not have a thorough understanding of the problems of security and defence, but the development of these sectors and the country's future depend on their decisions."

Radev called for even closer interaction between the RONU and the Education and Science Ministry for the development of patriotic education, which deserves much more attention from the institutions. Radev praised the Union's efforts towards conservation and maintenance of war memorials, which are part of the cultural and historical heritage.

The RONU Chairman, Gen. Zlatan Stoykov, set forth the challenges to the organization and its priorities. They include the adoption of a law on reservists harmonized with the current EU legislation; the setting up of a national fund for Bulgarian military and military-historical monuments and memorials with the participation and support of the ministries of defence, finance and culture, the municipalities and the reserve troops; and designating the RONU, by a government decree, as a nationally representative military-patriotic organization in Bulgaria and Europe and a member of the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers (CIOR).

Radev said the presidential institution supports these goals.

The RONU represents a large number of reservists in Bulgaria. The organization has 43 regional chapters and 300 municipal organizations with 653 sections and clubs. The Union has some 27,600 members, the Press Secretariat said.