Crin Antonescu declared on Monday, March 31, that if he became president, he will not reintroduce the compulsory military service, and Romania will not send peace forces to Ukraine.
Photo: Mapn
Asked at Antena 3 if he will reintroduce the compulsory military service, Crin Antonescu stated that this measure will not be taken under his mandate. The candidate also assured that Romania will not send peace forces to Ukraine.
Crin Antonescu, asked how to strengthen the army and defense of Romania, said that the percentage of the GDP allocated to the defense must increase, somewhere to 3%.
“In connection with the first two aspects, I would like to remind that I was the first of the announced candidates who said that he does not support the Romanian military presence in Ukraine in any form – neither to maintain peace, nor as a war effort. I explained the reasons, I do not repeat them.
As for this miserable lie, it is a new massive poisoning of public opinion – as this coalition, this government, the interim president, I do not know who, wants to involve Romania in the war. It’s a lie.
Third, it is one of the fundamental duties of the state. I was clearly pronounced here, unlike others, and we must accept the idea that the allocation from GDP for defense will have to grow, somewhere to three percent”, The candidate said.
Last but not least, he argues that Romania has to develop its defense industry, “not just remain buyers”.
“But I do not want Romania to continue to be a showcase of imports in the field of defense. We can develop a defense industry, we can produce military equipment and technologies here, in Romania. We must not remain buyers – we can also become producers and suppliers of military technology and technique.”, The candidate concluded.
Recently, information has appeared in the public space regarding “The call to the emergency military training of young people with Romanian citizenship between 18 and 35 years from all over Romania, starting with 3.04,2025 ”.
In this context, the Ministry of National Defense (MAPN) has assured that he did not take into account the return to the compulsory military service at any time.“CI is considering exclusively itrecruitment of volunteering reservists ”.
