Having joined the European Union in 2007, Romania has a
\njustice system that is still closely monitored by its European partners.
\nDoubting the Bucharest authorities’ will and ability to ensure the independence
\nof the judiciary and effectively fight corruption, Brussels imposed, at the
\nmoment of Romania’s EU accession, the creation of a so-called mechanism of
\ncooperation and verification. Under this mechanism, EU experts assess the
\ncountry’s progress in the field of justice and draw up periodic reports on
\nthe progress made and also on the flaws in the system. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader said
\nhe was confident that the upcoming intermediary report the European Commission
\nis to made public soon would be balanced and objective. Toader also said he
\ndiscussed the issue with European officials in Brussels, including with the
\nEuropean Commission First Vice-President, Frans Timmermans. Minister Toader
\ndiscussed with Frans Timmermans about the evolutions covered by the monitoring
\nreport and about the objective presentation of the solutions proposed in the
\nnew package of laws meant to reform the Romanian judiciary. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The three major laws that govern the functioning of the
\njustice system, that is the status of judges and prosecutors, the Supreme
\nCouncil of Magistracy and the judicial organisation, are to be amended in
\nkeeping with the Constitutional Court’s decisions. However, the political
\nopposition and the media suspect that the Government is in fact trying to
\nsubtly insert into the new laws stipulations that might sabotage the
\nanti-corruption efforts. The most vehement reactions were sparked by Minister
\nToader’s initial proposal, a proposal dropped eventually by the ruling
\ncoalition, that the
\ncountry’s president should no longer be involved in the procedure of appointing
\nthe head prosecutors of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Anti-Corruption
\nDirectorate and the Directorate for
\nthe Investigation of Organised Crime and Terrorism. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, it is
\nthe status of the Judicial
\nInspection Corps that seems to be the main cause for concern for European
\npartners, as Minister Toader pointed out.Initially, the
\nbill supported by the Justice Minister placed the Judicial Inspection Corps
\nfrom under the umbrella of the Supreme Council of Magistracy to the
\nsubordination of the line ministry, fuelling suspicions of political subordination.
\nFaced with the magistrates’ disapproval and vehement protests by the opposition
\nand civil society, Minister Toader softened his stance and said that whether
\nunder the coordination of the Supreme Council of Magistracy or that of the
\nJustice Ministry, the Judicial Inspection Corps needed what he termed as a
\nconsolidation of its guarantees of independence. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Still
\nunconfirmed officially but reported in the media, the information that Frans
\nTimmermans had recommended Minister Toader that the justice laws should not be
\nrevised without the approval of the Venice Commission has already triggered
\nreactions in Romania. The former Social Democratic justice minister Florin
\nIordache, in his new capacity as president of Parliament’s special committee on
\njustice, has said that it is up to the Bucharest Parliament to decide if the
\napproval of the Venice Commission is needed or not. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Commission continues to be concerned about how the Romanian justice system works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":75414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[32472,116464],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-75413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-justice-laws","tag-romania-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n