A successful UEF Congress was held in Bulgaria from 11-14 September 2025

Monday, September 22 , 2025 41

The XXI UEF Statutory Congress was held in Ruse, Bulgaria, in the period from 11 to 14 September 2025. It was organized by the Union of Bulgarian Foresters, member of the UEF.

Ruse is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, situated in the north-eastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube. Thanks to its location and its railway and road bridge over the Danube (Danube Bridge), it is the most significant Bulgarian river port, serving an important part of the international trade of the country. It is the 12th-largest of all cities on the river Danube. Ruse is known for its 19th- and 20th-century Neo-Baroque and Neo-Rococo architecture, which attracts many tourists and because of this it is often called the Little Vienna.

The participants in the Congress, coming from 13 European countries were able to visit the city and two of its attractive museums – the Historical Museum and Eco-museum with the Aquarium and to listen to a presentation of the cultural and historical heritage in the city of Ruse and the region.

On the 30 September, an International seminar dedicated to the topic “The Ludogorie and Dobrudzha – Challenges for Biodiversity Conservation in the Climate Change Context” was organized in the Ruse University “Angel Kanchev”.

The conference was opened by prof. Ivan PALIGOROV who gave the floor to eng. Stoyan TOSHEV deputy-minister of agriculture and food to welcome the participants from Europe and Bulgaria.

The delegates were warmly welcomed by the President of the Union of European foresters - Tomasz MARKIEWICZ too.

The participants were greeted also by Asen MARKOV, Executive Director - Executive Forest Agency; Assoc. prof. Hristo MIHAYLOV, PhD – Rector of the University of Forestry, Sofia; Yavor GETCHEV – advisor of the President of the Republic Bulgaria; Dr. Pencho MILKOV - Mayor of Ruse city; Assoc. Prof. Teodor ILIEV deputy-rector of Ruse University;

Mr. Stoyan TOSHEV presented the “Forests and forestry of Bulgaria – short history and traditions”. Presentations were made also by Assoc prof. Stoyan Stoyanov - Dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the Forestry University - “Hunntig in Bulgaria – achievements and development policy”; Assoc. Prof. Georgi KOSTOV, PhD –““Challenges facing forest restoration in North-eastern Bulgaria under climate change context”; Corr. memb. Prof. Georgi GEORGIEV, DSC – Director of Forest Research Instate at Bulgarian Academy of Science – “Management of field protective forest belts in Dobrudzha - North-eastern Bulgaria – problems and solutions” and eng. Ivan NEDKOV – Director of Nord Central State Forest Enterprise Gabrovo, Bulgaria – “Interaction between the State and NGOs in the Game Population Management”.

Тhe Statutory UEF Congress was held on 12^th of October, as important topics like changes of the UEF Constitution and the election of the new presidency were included in the agenda.

Michael Diemer (Germany) and Ivan Paligorov (Bulgaria) were elected to be presidents of the Congress

The former Presidency reported about the last 4 years activities and the achievements of UEF since the last Congress in Chartres (France) in 2021.

The president Tomasz Markiewicz make a short introduction to the reports and then the 3 vice-presidents - Hans Jacobs, Ilpo Puputti and Anna Petrakieva, the secretary Thomas Baschny and assistant-secretary Morten Gustafsson reported about their activities and achievements.

The UEF treasurer, François-Xavier Nicot, presented the budget and the accounts, which were certified and adopted according to the suggestion of the auditor – Lars Delfs Mortensen.

The elections for the new Presidency offered UEF a new team for the new 4 years period.

Here are the results:

President:               Tomasz Markiewicz - Poland;
Vice Presidents:     Anna Petrakieva - Bulgaria;
                                 Tiina Eklund - Finland;
                                 Hans Jacobs - Germany;

Secretary:                Marten Gustafsson - Sweden;

Assitant secretary: Thomas Baschny - Austria;

Treasurer:                François-Xavier Nicot - France;

Auditors:                  Lars Delfs Mortensen - Denmark;
                                 Karin Hilfiker - Switzerland

Dep. auditors:         Line Kragelund - Denmark;
                                 Christodoulos Christodoulou - Cyprus. 

After the election of the new Presidency the main topics and area of work for the coming mandate was presented. A division of the responsibilities among the Presidency members will be done during the first meeting of the Presidency in October.

An important topic in the Congress agenda was the amendments of the UEF Constitution. The proposals with the relevant motivation for the necessity of the changes were sent to all UEF members a month in advance. After a short discussion the Congress adopted the proposals. The Updated UEF Constitution is available at the UEF web-site in the section “Documents.

An invitation for the next UEF Governing Council Meeting 2026 was made by our Turkish member Orman Mühendisleri Odasi - Chamber of forest engineers, who offered to organized the meeting in Istanbul, Turkie.

At the end of the Congress day the re-elected UEF President Tomasz Mariewisz warmly thanked and underlined the contribution of Ilpo Puputy – vice-president, who left the Presidency after more than 10 years active involvement in the UEF activities and life.

On Saturday 13 September, the delegates had an opportunity to have an overview of the Bulgarian sustainable forest management during the organized fieldtrip. Sites from the Kubrat Municipality forest; the State Hunting Area (DLS) „Voden-Iri Hisar“, where the Practices for biodiversity conservation, forest regeneration and intensive game management were presented.
The afternoon of the day was dedicated to the historical place in the region. The participants discovered the Thracian Tomb in the Village of Sveshtari – prat of the UNESCO World heritage.

During the evening, and the traditional for UEF farewell dinner, participants in the Congress were able to discover a bit of the Bulgarian folklore and have time for nice and friendly discussions.

 

The UEF Presidency