Early last month, the Romanian military opened 1,500 new positions within its ranks for professionals, reservists, but also volunteer reservists. The response was highly encouraging, with more candidates than positions on offer, according to defense minister Vasile Dîncu.

While he could not give an accurate figure, Dîncu said in an interview for Digi24 cited by News.ro that the army had no problem finding personnel. He believes that applicants were attracted by the stability, job safety, and decent wages offered by the military.

“Wages are in accordance with specializations. Generally, they go beyond RON 3,500 (EUR 707), plus added bonuses,” said Dîncu. “I believe we’ve done a pretty good publicity campaign for the profession. […] Some countries work with the largest publicity agencies in the world. They pay sums that we couldn’t afford to attract the best people,” he added.

The minister argues that wages in the military have lagged behind the Romanian economy. He expressed hope that the ruling coalition will up the sums to provide applicants with more incentives to join.

Earlier this month, the Russian ministry of defense issued a statement claiming that Poland, Romania, and the UK had the most mercenaries fighting in Ukraine. As many as 504 Romanian mercenaries had allegedly joined the Ukrainian foreign legion. The Romanian MoD rejected the claims as propaganda.

Romania currently has 67,000 active military personnel, out of a total of 132,000 military forces. According to data from the World Bank, total armed forces personnel in the EU had dropped to 1.91 million by 2019 following a continuous decrease from its high point of 3.5 million in 1995.

Overall, Romania is ranked 38th in a global military strength ranking put together by Global Firepower. The US, Russia, and China occupied the first three positions, followed by India and Japan.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Recrutare MApN Facebook page)