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.
Nicușor Dan, the mayor of Bucharest and a presidential candidate, has expressed strong reservations about how Romania's administrative and territorial reorganization is being discussed after the Social Democrats said they intend to draft a project in this sense. He emphasized the need for a methodical and data-driven approach and said the reform should not be […]
Romania registered an annual inflation rate of 5.1% for December 2024 despite significant fluctuations, according to data published Tuesday, January 14, by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). The figure remained unchained from the previous month amid higher political turmoil. In October 2024 inflation had come down to 4.67%, while in September it sat at 4.6%. The presidential […]
Genesis Property, one of the leading office building owners in Romania, announced the appointment of Flavia Schoech as Chief Operating Officer (COO). In the new position, she will lead the development and alignment of the company’s operational strategy, “focusing on accelerating business growth objectives, efficiency, and the integration of ESG principles,” the developer said. Flavia […]
Soprano Adela Zaharia has made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Musetta in Puccini’s La Bohème. She appeared in the performance on January 11, and will perform again on January 15, 18, 22, and 25.
The Ford plant in Craiova, southern Romania, recorded a production volume of over 250,000 units in 2024, thanks to its most popular models, namely the Puma and the two Courier versions. The plant, owned by Ford Otosan, produced 20,441 vehicles in December, marking a 60% increase compared to the previous year, although it did not […]
Dino Parc Râșnov, the open-air museum in central Romania and the largest dinosaur park in southeastern Europe, has received the “Tripadvisor Travelers Choice” award for the second year in a row. Visitors to the almost 4-hectare park can experience a world of life-sized dinosaurs, with over 125 species, and participate in a variety of activities, […]
