Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar has ruled out reintroducing a mandatory military service in Romania amid discussions about measures to better prepare the NATO member country in case Russia's war against Ukraine spreads.
Romania currently has an 80,000-strong professional army and a reservist corps after it canceled mandatory military service in 2007, three years after joining NATO in March 2004.
Romania's new army chief, General Gheorghita Vlad, last week told RFE/RL that the country should urgently adopt a legal framework that would allow civilian volunteers to pursue military training, a statement that gave room to speculation among Romanians that mandatory military service would be reintroduced.
"Reintroducing a mandatory military service is out of question, at least during my term as defense minister. I have ruled out this possibility," Tilvar told Euronews on February 5. "There is no current discussion about this."
However, Tilvar confirmed Vlad's statement that a law being discussed by the Defense Ministry would envisage a fixed-term military training program for volunteers between 18 and 35 years of age and would include a one-off payment for those who complete the program.
"Such a voluntary military service would fulfill the need for a reservist force, since every country is preoccupied with ensuring enough manpower for a reservist corps," Tilvar said.
He said that the Romanian military last year lost 7,000 professional soldiers through either retirement or resignations.
However, Romania's parliament is unlikely to discuss a bill to introduce a fixed-term voluntary service this year, when several rounds of local, parliamentary, and presidential elections are scheduled.
Tilvar echoed statements by President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, reassuring the public that Romania is in no immediate danger of being attacked and is a member of NATO.
"But that does not mean that a strong state such as Romania, a member of the most important alliance in its history, should not get in line with what other militaries are doing from this point of view,'' Tilvar said.
Iohannis last week said Romania "was never better protected than it is now, as a NATO member state," while Ciolacu said, "there is no risk for Romania to be involved in any war right now. Romania has never been safer."
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, NATO beefed up its troop numbers in Europe and established four more multinational battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.