Divergences regarding the justice legislation

The Higher Council of Magistracy has advised against the bill amending the justice laws in Romania, submitted by Parliament for analysis

Mihai Pelin, 10.11.2017, 13:43

The bill amending the justice laws in Romania keeps raising controversy, also after the recent talks in Brussels, where the line minister Tudorel Toader had several meetings on the matter, including with the First Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans. The three major laws that govern the functioning of the judiciary, namely the one regulating the status of judges and prosecutors, of the Higher Council of Magistracy and judicial organization, have to be put in line with the Constitutional Court’s decision. Therefore, it was the Higher Council’s turn to give an opinion on the matter, and, as everybody had expected, the council voted against the package bill.

The Council’s opinion, however, is only advisory, and parliamentarians do not have to take it into consideration. During the debates, members of the Higher Council of Magistracy said they would like to have a more real and more transparent dialogue with the members of parliament, for the justice laws package to help magistrates, all the more so as progress and change are needed in the field. “A debate with a predictable outcome” was Tudorel Toader’s reaction after the Council made public its opinion.

Obviously unhappy with the debates’ outcome, Toader accused some of the magistrates of having used a ‘double language’ and of rejecting proposals coming from their own body. Even so, he voiced his conviction that the parliamentarians who make up the specialized committee will take into account the Council’s advice. So far, the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT), the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) and the General Prosecutor’s Office have voiced their opposition to the bill, just like the Romanian Prosecutors’ Association and the Judges’ Forum.

In turn, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis has also criticized the bill. He believes that some of the provisions it includes are good, opportune and necessary, but others have been slashed and trimmed, referring mainly to the threshold used to define abuse of office. According to the current form of the bill, the president maintains the responsibility to appoint the heads of the prosecutor’s offices, although, at first, that prerogative had been removed, but he would no longer be able to revoke them. Also, the bill provides for the setting up of a directorate whose role would be to investigate the magistrates subordinated to the General Prosecutor, which would translate into lesser responsibilities for the National Anticorruption Directorate.

As regards the Judicial Inspection Corps, according to the new law it would be subordinated to a newly established National Council for Judges and Prosecutors Integrity. As compared to the initial version submitted by the Justice Ministry, the current bill has been slightly changed by Parliament.

(Translated by Mihaela Ignatescu)