A new form of military service could be introduced in Moldova: 42 days of training for citizens aged up to 55. The Ministry of Defence has been working on the concept for nearly two years. The project would add a fourth option to the existing forms of service: 12-month compulsory military service, three-month short-term service, and service under contract.
Citizens would learn about weapons, military tactics, first aid, and the rules of military life.
“They will undergo a course that will cover, among other things, the different types of weapons, methods of conducting combat operations, and how to provide first aid,” said Alexandru Roman, a reserve colonel and the author of the draft law.
According to Colonel Vadim Bulgaru, the law requires citizens to complete some form of military service before the age of 27. Those who did not do so ended up in an untrained reserve.
“We no longer want to deceive ourselves or somehow mislead citizens through various tricks and evasions that allowed them to get past this age without completing their service,” he said.
Those called up for training would receive the pay of a conscript, amounting to 500 lei per month. “Their salary will be suspended, as is the case for a conscript,” Roman said.
The project has divided politicians. Renato Usatîi, president of the Our Party (PN) parliamentary faction, said he sees nothing negative about the proposal, but added:
“I see absolutely nothing negative in this. The problem is something else: we have different positions from the Ministry of Defence. They keep in the barracks young people with earrings who want to become painters, sculptors, or musicians, while tens of thousands of young people in the diaspora are afraid to return home. I support an army based exclusively on contracts, with people who dream of becoming soldiers. You cannot turn a doctor into an artilleryman, and it is difficult to turn a history teacher into a tank crewman.”
PAS MP Lilian Carp rejected the idea that the proposal amounts to militarisation.
“This is not militarisation when we have a war on our doorstep. The Republic of Moldova must be prepared for any kind of challenge. I have no problem with this; my son serves in the military under contract. So there is no problem for society,” he said.
Moldova plans to invest more than 10 billion lei in modernising the National Army, according to the 2026–2030 Implementation Programme for the National Defence Strategy. Since 2022, defence spending has doubled. The allocation for 2026 stands at 2.14 billion lei. The authorities aim to gradually increase defence spending to 1% of GDP by 2030.