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.
Franck Bagouet has been appointed managing director of TotalEnergies Marketing Romania SA and managing director of Automotive Southeast Europe Hub TotalEnergies Marketing. He succeeds Didier Grimault, who has accepted a new position within the TotalEnergies company. “I am glad to join this dynamic affiliate and confident that, together with our talented team, we will reinforce […]
NEPI Rockcastle NV, Europe’s third largest listed retail real estate company by portfolio value, has appointed Romanian Marius Barbu as Chief Operating Officer (COO) with effect from April 1, 2026. He will succeed Marek Noetzel, current COO and CEO-designate. Barbu has also been nominated as a Board Director and will stand for election at the […]
Alexandru Bologa, Paralympic champion and world leader in the J1 –70 kg category, won the gold medal at the 2025 IBSA Judo Grand Prix for the visually impaired, held in Brazil’s São Paulo. This year, Bologa became world champion, European champion, and winner of several IBSA Grand Prix events. Arriving in Brazil as the world […]
The latest feature film by Romanian director Tudor Giurgiu, 3 Days in September (3 zile în septembrie), has been selected for the Limelight section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), one of the world’s leading film festivals. IFFR, with an average audience of around 275,000 viewers, alongside more than 2,000 film industry professionals from […]
Romania’s interior minister, Cătălin Predoiu, and the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Kash Patel, decided on Tuesday, December 16, to establish a Task Force aimed at stimulating the exchange of information and data. The exchange is aimed at improving the fight against organized crime, illegal migration, cyber threats, and illegal activities carried […]
Around 40% of Romanians living abroad want to invest in Romania, according to a new survey conducted by RePatriot, highlighting a significant potential for economic development driven by the diaspora. The research, carried out in October–November 2025 among Romanians from more than 20 countries, showed that interest in investing in the home country remains high […]
