The Judiciary in the New Presidential Term

Lifting the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism and amending the legislation on the judiciary are the main objectives announced by the new leaders of the Higher Council of Magistrates.

România Internațional, 07.01.2015, 13:33

The Romanian judicial system has made significant progress in the past 8 years, since the start of the EC monitoring under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, President Klaus Iohannis said, while chairing the first meeting of the Higher Council of Magistrates in his term in office. The head of state believes Romania must be evaluated objectively and that it is time the EC monitoring came to an end:

“One of the key goals of the judicial system should be the lifting of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. In order to meet this goal, all judicial institutions, as well as Parliament and the government must work together, so that we may accomplish this together by the time the current Council and Parliament have completed their terms in office.”

Iohannis also spoke about the need to keep the judiciary independent, competent, with honest judges and prosecutors. The President encouraged magistrates to resist pressure and carry on their work, and assured them of his loyal cooperation. The head of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, Livia Stanciu, said the European Commission monitoring should be maintained, even if this keeps Romania outside the Schengen area for the time being. Livia Stanciu:

“In my opinion, the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism needs to be kept in place, because a lot of its objectives are yet to be reached.”

Marius Tudose (42), elected president of the Higher Council of Magistrates on Tuesday, announced that his goal is to improve the efficiency and quality of the judiciary. Here are some of his objectives:

“Our main objective at this stage is to put together a plan of measures, after we have analyzed the report of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. The second objective I have in mind is to come up with proposals, within two months, regarding the amendment of the legislation regulating the judicial system.”

Tudose welcomed the announcement made by President Klaus Iohannis, who said he would support the idea of giving both the Higher Council of Magistrates and the High Court of Cassation and Justice the right to draft and propose legislation.

At the end of this month, the European Commission is to release a new report on the Romanian judicial system. The Justice Minister Robert Cazanciuc said, at the Council meeting, that he hoped the report would be favourable and pave the way for Romania’s Schengen accession. Originally scheduled for 2011, the accession was repeatedly postponed, as some Member States called for more substantial judicial reforms and for harsher anti-corruption measures.