CSM issues negative opinion on magistrates’ pension reform
The Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) has issued a negative opinion on the magistrates’ pension reform.
Ştefan Stoica, 28.11.2025, 14:00
In Romania, the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM), the institution tasked with safeguarding the independence of the judiciary, has issued a negative opinion on the draft law that changes the pension system for judges and prosecutors. The Council’s opinion is consultative, but procedurally mandatory. Precisely because the previous version of the reform lacked the Council’s endorsement, the coalition government’s proposal, for which it had staked its political responsibility before Parliament, failed the constitutional test.
Under the new bill, magistrates’ pensions would amount to 55% of the calculation base, defined as the average gross allowances from the last five years, but capped at no more than 70% of the last net allowance. In addition, the transition period to the retirement age of 65 would be 15 years, starting January 1, 2026. By contrast, the earlier draft, also contested by magistrates, would have phased in retirement at 65 more quickly, over 10 years.
Talks between the Government, which has the authority to set pension levels (including for magistrates), and magistrates’ associations, though mediated by the country’s president, ended in failure. Magistrates demanded that their pensions be nearly equal to their last salary, while Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan insisted that pensions should not exceed 70% of the last net salary received.
CSM vice-president Claudiu Sandu on Thursday said that, if the new changes to magistrates’ pensions take effect, there will be three categories of retirees in the judiciary: some with pensions almost 25% higher than their salary, others with pensions equal to their salary, and finally those disadvantaged, in his view, who will work until 65 and end up with pensions at half their salary. This, he argued, would create inequities in the system.
However, the Council vice-president said nothing about the current inequities, seen by many as outrageous, between magistrates’ pensions, which amount to thousands of Euro and are based only marginally on contributions during their active years, and the pensions of ordinary Romanians, which are far smaller and cannot be accessed before the age of 65.
Commentators agree that responsibility for the anomalies governing magistrates’ special pensions lies with lawmakers, who allowed them to retire as early as age 50 and to receive pensions equal to or even greater than their last salary. On the other hand, any reasonable attempt to reform the flawed pension system for magistrates, as demanded by the European Union, has been categorically rejected by prosecutors and judges, on the grounds that it would undermine judicial independence. (VP)
