The Venice Commission gives preliminary opinion on Romania’s justice laws

A cold shower for the ruling coalition in Bucharest: the Venice Commission disapproves of many of its amendments to the justice laws.

Bogdan Matei, 16.07.2018, 12:09

For a year and a half, justice has been the subject of the most
heated public debates in Romania. The government coalition made up of the
Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE)
says revising the laws on the functioning of the judicial system and amending
the criminal codes are in keeping with rulings by the Constitutional Court and
the European Court of Human Rights. The opposition, civil society and the media
say, however, that the purpose of these changes is to place magistrates under
political control and put an end to the fight against corruption and crime in
general. Eventually, the sides called for the external arbitration of the Venice Commission, the Council
of Europe’s advisory body, whose opinions are generally respected by Member
States.

In its preliminary opinion, the Commission has warned that the draft
amendments to the three justice laws will most probably undermine the
independence of Romanian judges and prosecutors and the public’s trust in the
judiciary. The Commission’s experts recommend creating a balance between the role
of the president, the Superior Council of Magistracy and the justice minister
in the appointment of high-ranking prosecutors. They are also concerned about
the restrictions to the magistrates’ freedom of expression, the creation of a
body to investigate their activity and the diminution of the role of the Superior
Council of Magistracy as a guarantor of the system. Although some amendments
were adopted as a result of Constitutional Court rulings, it is difficult to
avoid the risk of their undermining the independence of the justice system and
have a negative effect on the fight against corruption, the Venice Commission
also warns.

A fierce critic of the government’s actions, president Klaus Iohannis
says the assessment of the Venice Commission is an extremely worrying signal as
far the independence of the judiciary is concerned. He says its preliminary
opinion confirms the views of civil society, the Superior Council of Magistracy
and magistrates and justifies the challenges of unconstitutionality and the
requests for re-examinating these draft laws. The National Liberal Party, the
biggest party in opposition, has requested the Constitutional Court to take
note of the preliminary opinion on the justice laws, which the party says
should be re-discussed by Parliament. The Save Romania Union and the People’s
Movement Party, also in opposition, share this view.

In response, Social Democratic MPs say the preliminary opinion
contradicts the view of the opposition and the president that the justice laws
should not be amended. Moreover, this is not an official document and even
contradicts a previous report of the Venice Commission on the European
standards on the independence of the judicial system. The Senate speaker and
ALDE leader Calin Popescu Tariceanu also says the warnings of the foreign
experts amount to a political opinion without much substance.

A final assessment of the
Venice Commission is expected in autumn.