site.btaGen. Rumen Radev: "I Know of Several Pilots-Turned-President, None Vice Versa"

Gen. Rumen Radev: "I Know of Several Pilots-Turned-President, None Vice Versa"

Sofia, August 26 (BTA) - Meeting with military patriotic unions in Sofia on Thursday evening, Gen. Rumen Radev (ret.), the Socialist Party's presidential candidate, said he knew of several pilots turned president, but none vice versa.

In his first public meeting, Radev, who was until recently the Air Force commander, said his nomination met with an explosive reaction in society and fierce opposition from the political elite, which claims that military people lack the political background needed to become president. Radev urged against underestimating the experience of the commanders and officers of the Bulgarian Armed Forces. He said he had graduated with outstanding success from a US Air Force academy where he studied geopolitics, strategy, national security, diplomacy, economics and the art of negotiation.

Radev also stressed that some of the president's key responsibilities by Constitution have to do with national security: protection of the country's sovereignty, territorial integrity and the order enshrined in the Constitution, and guaranteeing the citizens' rights and the democratic functioning of the institutions.

Radev said the debate on the role of the presidential institution had degenerated in the worst possible way: who nominated whom and why. There is no talk of platforms, personalities, commitments, background and plans. The aim is to underrate the institution and the future president and make them dependent, according to the presidential candidate.

There is a crisis of values and a crisis in government, said Radev, who identified two key problems: lack of a clear separation of powers and lack of a dignified foreign policy based on the national interest within the alliances of which Bulgaria is a member. He stated that when a party fully controls the legislative and executive branches of power, has clout over the judiciary and exercises control on the presidential institution, the resulting complacency and lack of a corrective lead to no progress made.

After the opening, Radev's meeting with the military patriotic unions continued behind closed doors.