Romania is planning to create a voluntary military service to enhance its military reserve with a proposal, currently being debated in Parliament, that would enable 18 to 35-year olds to follow a four-month paid training programme.
On finishing the training, the volunteers would have the status of reservists and those wishing to do so could become active soldiers.
The measure was announced by Defence Minister Ionuț Moșteanu and the initiative is designed to meet government concerns about the ageing profile of the current pool of reservists.
The average age of reservists "is somewhere around 48-50 years," Romanian defence ministry spokesperson Colonel Corneliu Pavel told Euronews Romania.
"This draft law that is under approval is meant to significantly increase the number of reservists."
New military commitments in Europe
Compulsory military service, which guaranteed stable turnover of the ageing reservist pool, was suspended in Romania in 2007, after the country joined the European Union.
According to Romanian press sources, the ministry of defence ruled out any form of reintroducing a compulsory draft.
However, Romania's volunteer idea tallies with the project of a full scale European rearmament and with the efforts of several other European countries that are rethinking their enlistment methods.
The reorganisation of the military structure and the increase in the number of armed personnel is one of the keys of NATO and EU countries' current military planning.
The Romanian draft law provides for a four-month military training, during which the young volunteers are paid as active military personnel, and at the end they also receive an allowance of almost €2,500.
Some young people say they would be on board with the scheme, while others are more reluctant, but most believe that some form of military training of civilians should exist.
A young woman in Bucharest told Euronews Romania that the military service could be useful.
"In case of war, or something else, we should know what to do," she said.
While a young man commented: "I'd really like a little bit of extra exercise, a little bit of activity, but also more serious, I mean it's not like you go to play with your friends."
Romanian defence spending in 2025 is up to 2.2% of its GDP, nevertheless, by 2032, the Black Sea country is committed to reach 3.5 % of defence spending and 1.5% in indirect investments connected to security.
