Bills on defence
The government in Bucharest has approved a bill that will allow young people to become volunteer soldiers for a fixed term
Roxana Vasile, 03.10.2025, 13:50
For years, Romanian authorities have been working to update legislation on preparing the population for defence, which has become all the more important as the war on the borders—Russia’s war in Ukraine—has disrupted the peace of the continent. Currently, Romania has a shortage of both active military personnel and reservists. If necessary, the country would rely on approximately 70,000 active military personnel, compared to over 300,000 in the 1990s, and on a reserve in the natural process of aging, composed mainly of those who performed compulsory military service until 2007, when it was suspended.
As a result, a bill initiated in 2019 by the Defence Staff proposed that young people be able to participate on a voluntary basis in a basic military training program. Those who would follow it, it was specified, would either add to the mobilization reserve of the Romanian Army or could enter a selection process to become professional soldiers with employment contracts in the Army. On Thursday, the coalition government in Bucharest approved a bill to this effect. Voluntary military service is aimed at young men and women aged between 18 and 35 who are permanently resident in Romania and have not completed other forms of military service.
The training program will last four months, and volunteers will receive free accommodation, meals, and healthcare, as well as a monthly salary equivalent to that of a soldier, namely 3,000 lei (approximately 600 euros). At the end of the training, volunteers will also receive a financial bonus equivalent to three average gross salaries. Currently, this amount is approximately 27,000 lei (around 5,400 euros). Experts assure us that this measure does not mean a return to compulsory military service, nor – despite the tense geopolitical context – is the country preparing for war. However, they say, Romania must be ready for defence.
Also on Thursday, the Bucharest executive adopted a draft law modernising the defence strategy and placing national defence in the context of collective defence within NATO and the European Union’s common security and defence policy. More specifically, the draft includes measures to simplify the decision-making chain in the theatre of operations. This will allow the commander on the ground to give direct orders, reducing response time in critical situations, such as drone interception. Both documents have been sent to Parliament for debate and approval under an emergency procedure. (MI)
