Chamber of Deputies endorses the new justice laws
In the Romanian Chamber of Deputies the left-of-center ruling coalition has easily passed the projects aimed at reforming the justice system
Florentin Căpitănescu, 14.12.2017, 14:52
The Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest has passed, after marathon debates and arguments between the Power and the Opposition, the projects proposed by the ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) of revising the laws regarding judicial organization and the Higher Council of Magistracy (CSM). The bill on the judicial organisation stipulates, among other things, the setting up of a department that investigates prosecutors and judges and offers the possibility for the solutions adopted by prosecutors to be infirmed by their superior, in case they are considered illegal or groundless. The Opposition says that the bill ignores the recommendations of the professional organisations in the field and that the investigation department is only an instrument designed to intimidate prosecutors and magistrates. Raluca Turcan, the leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL), the main opposition party, has said:
“Today, in Romania’s Parliament, a toxic majority against Romania’s interest, against all Romanians and against democracy took shape, formed by the Social Democratic Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania.”
In answer to that, the head of the special parliamentary committee on amending the laws of the judiciary, the Social-Democrat Florin Iordache, has said that the new bill eliminates political intervention. Florin Iordache:
“We want a normal justice system, a system that does not allow superiors use of us as they please. From now on, without any political intervention, judges will be able to rule as their conscience tells them, in keeping with the laws in force.”
The second bill passed by the Chamber of Deputies, stipulates that the Judicial Inspection will not be turned into an autonomous institution, an idea initially supported by the ruling coalition and the UDMR. The document also says that it is only the Judicial Inspection that can exert disciplinary actions on a magistrate, exempt from the procedure being the Justice Minister and the head of the High Court of Cassation and Justice. The two bills will be submitted to the Senate as the decision making body in this case, where the bill on the status of magistrates is debated under emergency procedure. In the form adopted by the Chamber of Deputies, the new bill makes prosecutors part of a hierarchy topped by the justice minister, and prohibits magistrates from working as covert intelligent service agents, by having them submit annual statements in this respect. (Translated by A.M. Popescu)
