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PM Ciolacu: Let's stay calm, Romania is in no danger of being engaged in a war
Romania has never been safer and is in no danger of being engaged in a war, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Thursday.
He was responding to the recent statements made by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Vlad Gheorghita, on preparing the population for defence.
"This is the role of the Chief of General Staff. I tell you what I said a few days ago, Romania is not at risk of being engaged in a war. Romania has never been safer from this point of view than today. The fact that we are part of NATO is a very important thing and you can see the deployment of forces and military from all over Europe and, especially, from the USA, on the territory of Romania and the Air Police. So, let's stay calm as Romania will not get into any war," said Marcel Ciolacu.
The new Chief of Staff, General Gheorghita Vlad, in office since November 2023, warns that the Romanian Army does not have the necessary law to prepare the population to deal with the expansion of the war in Ukraine, nor to act in proportion to the existing military dangers .
He declared himself “more than convinced that President Putin’s policy will escalate in the immediate period ahead.” “Yes, the population of Romania, like the entire population of the European Union, of Europe, must be concerned and we must adopt the appropriate measures to be prepared,” said the head of the Army, to Europa Libera.
Asked, in an interview with Europa Libera, if it is necessary for Romanian civilians to prepare for a possible conflict with Russia, the Defense General Staff said that the Russian Federation has become a problem for the world order, for democracy, being “a Russia’s war with the democratic world”.
“Yes, the population of Romania, like the entire population of the European Union, of Europe, must worry and we must adopt the appropriate measures to be prepared. I personally, not necessarily as a military person, believe that the Russian Federation will not stop here. If he wins in Ukraine, the main target will be the Republic of Moldova. We will witness tensions in the Western Balkans. I am more than convinced that President Putin’s policy will escalate in the next period”, said the head of the Romanian Army.
He said a law was needed to allow men and women up to the age of 35 to voluntarily learn to shoot a gun or undergo a decontamination, stressing that the abolition of compulsory military service “brought a deficit not only for Romania, but for all NATO countries.”
“We need to discuss a population training policy, and here I can mention that the Ministry of National Defense has a draft law, the draft amendment to Law 446 on the training of the population for defense, in which for years – I say, quite good – we have been trying let’s change this system a bit. (…) Among other things, we want to introduce a term, voluntary military service. That is, we target the age segment between 18 and 35 years old, regardless of gender, nationality, religious beliefs, young people who want to wear the military uniform. Let’s pay for this service and train them in the basic principles of warfare. (…) I give you the example of Sweden. They surveyed 40,000 young people and 8,000 young people enrolled in this program. Romania must also adopt a similar system. Let’s address those who want to learn to shoot a weapon, to orient in a difficult environment, to survive in a difficult environment, to know how to protect themselves against chemical weapons, to do a personal decontamination. There are many things that can be learned and acquired by those who wish”, Vlad Gheorghita pointed out.
According to General Gheorghita Vlad, there are around 80,000 professional soldiers in the Romanian Army, compared to around 120,000, as needed. 6,000 employees left the Ministry of Defense in 2023 alone. He said the reservist base has remained at the level of 2007, meaning it’s 48-50 year olds: “It is very old (reservist base – n.r.) for combat. Imagine a person at 50 years old, with a backpack, a backpack, as it is popularly known, of 80 liters on the back”.
Similar statements have recently been made by the military leadership of many other countries. For instance, Boris Pistorius, Federal Minister of Defence of Germany, said that Russia might attack aNATO country in the near future.
Swedish Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Micael Bydén and Minister for Civil Defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin said all citizens should be prepared for war.
And the Commander-in-Chief of Norway's Armed Forces urged not to waste the "window of opportunity" to prepare for a possible direct confrontation with Russia, as this time could be limited in a few years.