Romania is forcing its young people to enlist, preparing for excessive militarization of the country, to the detriment of economic development, claims a publication affiliated with the extremist AUR party.
NEWS: President Nicușor Dan has decided: Romania must prepare its young people not for life, not for careers, not for the future, but for the barracks. In a country where hospitals are closing, schools are falling apart, and young people are leaving in large numbers for abroad, the political decision-makers have come up with the "solution" of conscripting them.
Instead of offering them the chance of a modern education, access to technology, and well-paid jobs, the state urges children to pack their bags for military units.
This obsession with militarization does not solve the real problems: poverty, lack of infrastructure, the collapse of agriculture and industry, and the deterioration of public services.
NARRATIVE: Young Romanians are forced to enlist in the army.
PURPOSES: To promote a sovereignist discourse, to provoke protests and anti-establishment social movements.
Volunteering is not mandatory
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: Faced with the imminent departure of approximately 350,000 reservists due to age, the Romanian army is seeking solutions to increase its numbers, given the extremely uncertain international security context. Thus, at the beginning of the month, the Romanian government approved a bill on preparing the population for defense. It introduces the concept of voluntary military service and gives young people between the ages of 18 and 35 the opportunity to undergo military training, upon request, to familiarize themselves with the military environment, train with the weapons used by the Romanian Army, and join the country's operational reserve. Contrary to sovereignist propaganda, the non-mandatory nature of such action is clearly suggested by the very presence of the term "volunteer" in its description. Moreover, the bill was co-initiated by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior and approved by ten other institutions, including the Supreme Council for National Defense (CSAT). And even if the CSAT is headed by President Nicuşor Dan, placing the decision solely on the shoulders of the head of state is a malicious distortion of reality.
Given Romania's position on NATO's eastern border and in the vicinity of a major war, modernizing and enhancing its defensive capabilities, including by increasing the number of military personnel, is essential not only for the defense of the territory but also for credibility within the Alliance. The introduction of voluntary military service brings advantages both to those directly involved, who will receive allowances, bonuses, insurance, etc., and to society as a whole, which can thus maintain good morale in an extremely tense context. And if necessary, even if not all those who complete the voluntary service will become active soldiers, they will benefit from a level of military training that can be used not only on the front line, but also in crisis situations, for civic resilience, emergency organization, cooperation with authorities, etc.
The demagoguery at the end, suggesting that the country has other priorities, aligns itself with the same patriotic rhetoric with populist overtones used by sovereignists everywhere, but which offers absolutely no solution to the problems that Romania is actually facing.
The threat of war, the sovereignists’ favorite weapon
CONTEXT: The narrative that Romania will be drawn into a NATO-Russia war in Ukraine, and that Romanians will participate in frontline fighting, dates back to before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is part of an arsenal of fake news and disinformation from Moscow aimed at justifying claims that the West is responsible for the conflict in Ukraine.
Constantly repeated by sovereignist propaganda, these are now being used to force early legislative elections or even a popular uprising to overthrow the current pro-European regime in Bucharest, whose power was consolidated with the election of Nicuşor Dan as president. In the spring, for example, with the official inauguration of the new Romanian head of state, the local media was flooded with fake news claiming, among other things, that the movement of men between the ages of 18 and 65 would be restricted as a result of the declaration of a state of mobilization, or that American troops would withdraw completely and permanently from Romania. The uncontrolled spread of these stories and the panic they caused among the population prompted the Ministry of National Defense to categorically deny the information and to report the dissemination of false information to the investigative authorities.
More recently, in July, sovereignist propaganda announced that martial law had been secretly declared in Romania and that the country was being ruled by a foreign military authority.
The 4media.info portal is part of a “network of lies” coordinated by the extremist group AUR. In fact, conspiracy rhetoric is characteristic of the entire so-called "sovereignist" spectrum—politicians, publications, influencers, etc.—which has regularly promoted false narratives about the war in Ukraine and the risks it poses to Romania.
Check sources:
---copie-image.webp)
