A delegation of
\nthe Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional
\nmatters, was in Bucharest for two days. Its agenda was extremely busy. The
\ninternational experts met representatives of many important state institutions,
\nincluding the president Klaus Iohannis, the Justice Ministry, the High Court of
\nCassation and Justice, the Constitutional Court, the Prosecutor’s General
\noffice, the National Anticorruption Directorate, the Superior Council of
\nMagistracy and Parliament, as well as judges and prosecutors associations and
\ncivil organisations. <\/p>\n
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\n
\n
\n
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The president of
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The
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The
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The
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The
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The
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" International experts in international law are to publish a report in October on Romanias revised justice laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":78075,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[32472,19347,31841],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-78074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-justice-laws","tag-romania","tag-venice-commission"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nthe Monitoring Committee <\/em>of the Parliamentary
\nAssembly of the Council
\nof Europe had requested the opinion of the Venice Commission on three draft
\nlaws on judicial organisation, on the Superior Council of
\nMagistracy and on the statute of judges and prosecutors. For two days, the
\nexperts from the Venice Commission heard completely opposing views, which have
\nbeen dividing the power and the opposition in Romania, and implicitly, society
\nin general. Based on the data gathered, they will draft a preliminary report in
\nJuly and a final one in October. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
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\npresident of the special parliamentary committee that oversaw the revision of
\nthe justice laws, the Social Democrat Florin Iordache, believes the report will
\nnot alter the substance of the laws in their amended form:<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nclarifications they received and the material we have provided and which solves
\nmany of the untruths that have circulated will help the representatives of the
\nVenice Commission, both in their preliminary opinion and the final opinion expected
\nin autumn, to make the best observations and note that three justice laws are
\nin keeping with both the opinions expressed by the Commission and the rulings
\nof the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nLiberals, in opposition, are, however, sceptical that the ruling coalition made
\nup of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats
\nwill take into account the final report of the Venice Commission, given the
\nstage of the revision process. Liberal senator Alina Gorghiu:<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nrevision is in its final stage and it will be quite difficult to work so fast
\nso as to be able to publish the report within a timeframe that allows the
\ncountry in question, Romania, to take it into account.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nright-wing opposition, part of the media and a number of civic organisations
\nhave said that, by amending the three laws in such haste, the government
\ncoalition is trying to put an end to the fight against corruption and place
\nmagistrates at its orders. The power, on the other hand, says the laws in
\nquestion had not been revised for a long time and that justice is not free from
\nabuses and violations of the rule of law. They also speak about the existence
\nof an illegitimate, subterranean structure they call the parallel state which
\nthey say paralyses state institutions and influences magistrates’ decisions. <\/p>\n