Romania Defense Ministry: Army activities seriously affected by insufficient budget

The Romanian Army is seriously affected by the insufficient budget allocated to the Defense Ministry this year, minister Gabriel Oprea said on Monday. He said, however, that efforts were made to accomplish domestic missions and missions abroad.

He pointed out that as compared to the budget of 2.3% of the GDP allocated when Romania joined NATO several years ago the current budget, similar to that of 2009, stood at about 1.31% of the GDP. „It is very difficult”, he said, quoted by Romanian news agency Mediafax.

Asked whether he expected changes to the budget for the Defense Ministry, he said he did not believe the budget would improve this year.