Reactions to the legal system changes
The Romanian Senate has passed the final piece of legislation from a package of laws on the overhaul of the judicial system initiated by the parliamentary majority formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats
Ştefan Stoica, 22.12.2017, 14:48
In only two weeks, the parliamentary majority supported by the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania has finalised the legislative process meant to overhaul the judicial system. This haste has been deemed suspicious by the right-wing opposition, the main judicial institutions and members of the public, many of whom took to the streets and social networks to protest against the controversial changes to the justice legislation.
At the end of the whole process, the leader of the Social Democrats Senate group, Serban Nicolae, said there are no new provisions justifying fears that the judicial system would fall under political control: “I would like us to note a few things. No text, proposal or amendment has been passed that may be said to politicise the judiciary, to place the act of justice under political control, and to put pressure on judges and prosecutors. Those who have opposed the laws have invoked these issues. It is very clear and I believe everybody who acts in good faith has to accept the fact that they have been lied to.
However, the High Court of Cassation and Justice has decided to file a complaint to the Constitutional Court to verify the constitutionality of some of the provisions in the law on the status of magistrates amended by Parliament. The National Liberal Party, in opposition, has also challenged the law at the Constitutional Court.
The vice-president of this party, Raluca Turcan: “We have filed this challenge and hope it will be successful because all regulations relating to procedures have been violated, as well as many aspects that have to do with the constitutional nature of the legislation.
One controversial article in the new law on the status of magistrates stipulates that prosecutors and judges must be held accountable for judicial errors made in bad faith or due to grave negligence. Another disputed provision refers to the fact that the president is, from now on, only allowed one single and justified rejection of nominations for the positions of Prosecutor General and head of main prosecutor general offices. With regard to the law on the judicial organisation, an amendment that has been criticised as an attempt to curb the powers of the National Anticorruption Directorate is that on the creation of a special department investigating all types of crimes committed by magistrates. These changes and the haste with which they were made, without real discussion with all players involved in the judicial system, have generated mistrust and much concern outside Romanias borders, as well.
The Bucharest embassies of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden have said in a joint statement that the laws on the change of the judicial system passed recently may put Romanias significant progress in the field at risk. The embassies of these seven countries call on the parties involved to avoid actions that may weaken the independence of the judicial system and the fight against corruption.
The President of the European Peoples Party, Joseph Daul, has also criticised the changes, saying the independence of the legal system in Romania is in danger. He recalls that the separation of powers is a pillar of democracy and that the judiciary must never be placed under political control in a European Union member state. Even the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, the political family from which the junior partner in the coalition government in Bucharest says it hails from, has voiced concern about the new justice laws. (Edited by D. Vijeu)
