Reform of magistrates’ pensions rejected by the Constitutional Court
The Constitutional Court of Romania has rejected the reform of magistrates’ pensions
Daniela Budu, 21.10.2025, 14:00
After postponing its decision several times, Romania’s Constitutional Court on Monday upheld the High Court of Cassation and Justice’s referral regarding the law on magistrates’ pensions and ruled that the bill was unconstitutional in its entirety. In their complaint, the magistrates argue that the law violates nearly 40 binding decisions of the Constitutional Court and numerous fundamental principles of the rule of law. In their reasoning, the CCR judges stated that the executive did not respect the 30-day deadline by which it had to wait for the SCM’s opinion before assuming responsibility in Parliament, even though this is only advisory.
Under these circumstances, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan announced that the process of adopting the reform of magistrates’ pensions—for which the government assumed responsibility in Parliament almost two months ago—is to be resumed. In a reaction on social media, he stated that the reform of magistrates’ pensions remains a firm objective for the government because, he says, ‘nowhere else in the world do people retire at 48-50 and receive a pension equal to their last salary. These are not political issues, these are privileges that are socially and budgetary unsustainable’.
The reform of magistrates’ pensions remains a priority, said President Nicuşor Dan, who expressed his hope that “in 2025, this issue will be resolved.” “This is not a position against magistrates, but rather a correction of an abnormal provision, namely pensions equal to salaries, which the political class regulated poorly a few years ago,” he said on social media. According to him, “a new legislative text will be drafted that will take into account the decision, whereby magistrates’ pensions will be corrected in a manner that is fair to society,” the head of state added.
In the context of numerous political debates, Senate President Mircea Abrudean reiterated that, in his view, the prime minister has no reason to resign and also indicated that the procedure for adopting the bill on magistrates’ pensions could be resumed. The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, the Social Democrat Sorin Grindeanu, also said that a working group would be set up quickly to make the necessary corrections to this law.
On the other hand, Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare, a member of the Liberal Party, believes that the CCR’s decision does not have a significant impact on taxation, but will contribute to the achievement of a milestone in the NRRP. On the opposition side, representatives of the AUR believe that, by ruling the law on magistrates’ pensions unconstitutional, the CCR is only protecting the ‘privileged’ and wonder what will happen to the ‘legitimacy of the Bolojan government’, which promised a ‘reform of state structures’. We recall that currently, Romanian magistrates retire at 48-49 years of age, and the average pension in the judiciary exceeds 24,000 lei (almost 5,000 euros). The new law provided for a 10-year transition period, at the end of which magistrates would retire at 65, the standard retirement age in Romania. The length of service required for retirement would increase from 25 to 35 years, and the pension amount would decrease from 100% of the last net salary to 70%. (MI)
