Romania’s justice system was in an unprecedented
\nsituation for quite some time, as some of its institutions, like the General
\nProsecutor’s Office, the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA), and the
\nDirection for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism DIICOT – were headed
\nby interim chief-prosecutors. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
This situation came to an end after
\nthe country’s president appointed new chief-prosecutors on Thursday. So,
\nGabriela Scutea will heading the General Prosecutor’s Office for the following
\nthree years, Crin-Nicu Bologa will be at the helm of the DNA, while Elena Hosu
\nwill be heading the DIICOT. According to president Iohannis, ‘it was a pleasure
\nto appoint these people, as Minister Predoiu’s nominations proved to be
\nappropriate’. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Klaus Iohannis: As the
\nminister came with very elaborated and well-motivated nominations, against a
\nCSM’s approval, which was partially superficial, I considered Minister
\nPredoiu’s proposals right, so I appointed the three nominees. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The three candidates got appointed
\nby the president, although Gabriela Scutea, and Elena-Georgiana Hosu had not
\nbeen endorsed by the Higher Council of Magistrates (CSM). Interim Prime
\nMinister Ludovic Orban, leader of the National Liberal Party has also described
\nthe appointments as fair. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ludovic Orban: Selection in
\nthis case has been done on objective criteria and these appointments bring to
\nan end a series of prolonged interim terms, which have negatively impacted
\nthese state institutions. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The opposition Social-Democrats
\nthough say that president Iohannis had to take into account the CSM’s decision.
\nHere is the Senate’s Social-Democratic vice-president Robert Cazanciuc.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Robert Cazanciuc: We are
\nprobably going to see the European Commission’s reaction to the president’s
\nmove in its future report, but one thing is very clear though, both the CVM and
\nGRECO recommend that CSM recommendations should be taken into account. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In a Facebook message, USR leader
\nDan Barna has described the president’s decision to appoint chief-prosecutors
\nin the absence of CSM endorsement as opportunistic against a political
\nbackground favourable to the incumbent Liberal rule. The Judges Forum
\nAssociation has specified in a communiqu\u00e9 that both the Justice Minister and
\nthe President blatantly disregarded the European Commission reports within the
\nCVM framework, reminding that Brussels is considering the idea of conditioning
\nfuture grants on the observance of the rule of law and that Romania stands
\nchances of losing significant amounts of money. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Part of the publications, usually
\nfavourable to the president and the ruling Liberals, have admitted being taken
\naback by the president’s latest move. G4media, for instance, believes that a
\ndecision like that coming from the former ruling PSD would have sparked off
\nlarge-scale protests in the country’s capital city Bucharest. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(translated by bill)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reactions to president Klaus Iohannis latest decision to appoint chief-prosecutors are diametrically opposed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":84759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[30219,30064,31525,37249],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-84758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-basescu","tag-dna","tag-orban","tag-predoiu"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n