The Mihail Kogalniceanu military base in Constanta county has entered an expansion process, with work on access roads and a high-capacity electrical network already started, according to a Digi24 report. The new military base will cover an area of almost 3,000 hectares and will be the largest in Europe, larger than the Ramstein air base in Germany, which has an area of about 2,000 hectares. In addition to the military infrastructure, the Kogalniceanu base will include schools, kindergartens, shops and even a hospital, able to accommodate 10,000 NATO soldiers and their families. “There will be social housing for individual personnel or families, there will be block-type housing, individual housing, nurseries, kindergartens, schools, pharmacies, everything that is needed,” declared the commander of the 57th Air Base Mihail Kogalniceanu, Nicolae Cretu. Also, the base will have a new runway, parallel to the existing one, hangars, maintenance spaces, simulators, fuel and ammunition depots and, of course, air defense systems. For the construction of the military base, 2,400 hectares of land were expropriated from Mihail Kogalniceanu and Lumina. 5,500 euros were paid for each hectare. Retired General Ben Hodges, former commander of American troops in Europe, praised Romania for starting the expansion of the Mihail Kogalniceanu military base in Constan?a, which will become the largest in Europe, following works estimated at around 2.5 billion USD. The base will be able to house up to 10,000 soldiers and their families and will basically be a small city. “Very good news. The latest example of Romanian contributions to collective defense. MK has for years been an important hub in the Black Sea region for NATO Air Policing and for US logistics and training. MK Expansion is important for implementing Black Sea strategy,” reads Hodges’ post on X (former Twitter). In his turn, Dorin Popescu, geopolitical analyst, told Euronews : “The Mihail Kogalniceanu base will become NATO’s most important permanent military structure in the immediate vicinity of the conflict in southern Ukraine. Let’s not imagine that this conflict will end this year in 2025, in 2026, it’s a long-term conflict.”
On Thursday, January 23, the European Commission granted a protected geographical indication status to Romania’s Jidvei wine. The new status offers recognition for the distinctive qualities of the wine. The brand encompasses white, rosé, red, sparkling, semi-sparkling, and liqueur wines produced from grape varieties grown in the Alba region, in central-western Romania. The vineyards in […]
Romania's pavilion at the Osaka World Expo 2025, which will take place from April 13 to October 13, was built with a focus on sustainability, including contributions from Romanian workers. The pavilion also highlights Romania's national resources. The mascot for the expo is a pelican named Haru (meaning "spring" in Japanese), symbolizing the importance of […]
Examin, a Romanian startup specializing in AI-powered video analytics, has secured EUR 200,000 in pre-seed funding from a private investor. The funds will be directed toward a market-ready product, creating an AI-driven prototype for quality inspection in manufacturing processes (AI Quality Inspection), developing its first AI Video Analytics camera, expanding the team, and scaling marketing […]
The beginning of 2025 brought increased pollution in the Bucharest-Ilfov area, as traditional pollutants such as cars and heating systems met low wind speeds, high humidity, and thermal inversion. The latter three prevent pollutant particles from dispersing and instead keep them at ground level. As a result, the level of pollution has doubled in the […]
Update: DNA confirmed that Sinaia mayor Vlad Oprea had been detained for 24 hours beginning January 23 on charges of bribery in continuous form, conducting financial operations incompatible with his position, false in asset declarations, abuse of office, and influence peddling. The prosecutors also said that Oprea indirectly received a total bribe of EUR 238,000 […]
Prosecutors from Romania's National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) reportedly detained Vlad Oprea, the mayor of the popular mountain town of Sinaia, for 24 hours on Thursday, January 23. He faces corruption charges in a case investigated by the DNA, with further searches set to take place at the Sinaia City Hall later today, in the presence […]
