Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Wednesday at the Automobile Dacia plant in Mioveni, on the introduction of the voluntary military service, that he was bothered by the context in which the announcement about its necessity was made, as if there was a danger coming from Russia to Romania.

“There is no danger coming from there!” said Ciolacu.

He added that voluntary military training is a correct approach, but it should not be placed in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

“There is no danger coming from there, but we really need a normal country and then I have to anticipate certain things, such as this paid volunteer system, in which people are trained and learn the basics in the art of defence. The approach is correct, but it should not have been given forcefully amid a war on the border, for Romania to understand from that news that ‘ah, war is coming upon us’. No war is coming!” said Ciolacu.

He added that in his opinion such training should be done in the form of paid volunteering.

“I think they should do this as paid volunteering. There are moments in life when you want to do this, to see what it’s like. Maybe you’re going to pursue a military career, but it’s still a selection ramp, maybe it finds certain human skills that the army needs in these voluntary training. It’s a normal system, but not sold in the context of a war, because the world no longer understands what’s happening,” said Ciolacu.