Meeting here on Tuesday, Bulgaria's National Assembly Defence Committee voted, 10-0 with 3 abstentions, to support a Government-proposed bill to ratify a Memorandum of Understanding between Bulgaria's Ministry of Defence and Romania's Ministry of National Defence regarding the setting up of a Regional Special Operations Component Command Headquarters (HQR-SOCC). According to https://www.bta.bg/, the two countries signed the Memorandum during the NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., on July 10, 2024. "The Regional Headquarters can go into operation as early as the beginning of 2025," caretaker Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov said then. The initiative is part of the evolution of NATO's command and control system and will rotate between the two countries once every two years. Zapryanov said that this joint command is very important for both peacetime and wartime.Under the Memorandum, the headquarters will be a temporary deployable command element and will be activated according to the two countries' national procedures and in accordance with the established mechanisms of the Alliance for participation in Allied operations or upon activation of NATO's defence plans, as well as for participation in bilateral and multilateral exercises and training events, the reasons to the bill says. After the HQR-SOCC reaches Full Operational Capability, each of the countries will act as a Lead Nation, hosting the command for one year (or up to two years, if necessitated by circumstances) until rotation to the new Lead Nation which reaches Full Operational Capability. Romania will be the first to assume the command of HQR-SOCC. The Regional Special Operations Component Command Headquarters will be capable of commanding and controlling multinational special operations forces (SOF) and NATO operations support and conduct forces, the cited source says.
Romanian deep-tech startup .lumen, the developer of what it says are the world’s first AI-powered glasses for the blind, has secured a new investment from EIT Urban Mobility, the European innovation community focused on advancing sustainable and inclusive urban mobility solutions. The value of the new funding round was not disclosed. The investment aligns with […]
The health spending per capita in Romania was the lowest in the EU, with spending less than half the EU average in 2023, the recently released report, State of Health in the EU - Romania Country Health Profile 2025, shows. At the same time, life expectancy in Romania is 5.1 years below the EU average, […]
Romania’s annual inflation rate stood at roughly 9.8% in November 2025, similar to October, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Food prices increased by 7.6% last month, while services rose roughly 11% and non-food goods climbed 10.7%. The consumer price index rose by 0.42% in November compared with October, while […]
Three French soldiers deployed in Romania as part of NATO’s Multinational Battle Group at Cincu intervened to save a truck driver following a serious traffic accident on the A3 Bucharest–Ploiești motorway, the Romanian Ministry of Defense said. The incident occurred earlier this week as the soldiers were traveling toward Ploiești and witnessed the truck crash...
Eight contemporary art galleries will present the works of the artists they represent at the third edition of the Smallest Art Fair in Town, an event dedicated to works on paper. This edition showcases works “investigating the state of wandering, disorientation, and rediscovery in the face of uncertainty.” Under the title In Dark Woods, A […]
Parents everywhere are asking an important question: What skills will truly prepare a child for a world defined by rapid change, global uncertainty, and the rise of artificial intelligence? For decades, schools focused entirely on academics. Today, research from neuroscience, performance psychology, and leading universities shows a different reality: The students who thrive long-term are […]
