The magistrates pensions reform sees new delay
The Constitutional Court of Romania again postponed a ruling with respect to magistrates’ special pensions, with a new date set for 18th February.
Daniela Budu, 12.02.2026, 14:00
The Constitutional Court of Romania has postponed, for the fifth time, giving a ruling on the reform of magistrates’ pensions proposed by the Government and which is a milestone in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan agreed with Brussels. A new hearing of the Court on this issue has been scheduled for February 18.
This time, the Court decided to postpone the decision in order to have time to analyse the latest request formulated by the High Court of Cassation and Justice to refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union to determine whether the changes to magistrates’ pensions proposed by the government comply with EU law. The new bill amending the pensions of judges and prosecutors adopted by the government provides for a phased increase in the retirement age to 65 years, while the amount of magistrates’ pensions can no longer exceed 70% of their net earnings in their final month in work.
The repeated postponements of the Constitutional Court to rule on this bill have generated harsh reactions at a political level, especially in the context of the warnings of the Romanian government and of the European Commission regarding the risk of Romania losing funds from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Deputy Prime Minister Tánczos Barna:
“I cannot welcome such decisions, because I have seen the financial impact. Certainly, the Constitutional Court is an institution that must be respected, an institution that is a pillar of democracy in Romania, but we must also bear in mind the fact that these reforms are absolutely necessary and have financial consequences, extremely serious consequences for the Romanian budget.”
The minister for investments and European projects, Dragoş Pîslaru also warned that Romania risks losing non-refundable European funds worth over 230 million euros due to the repeated postponements of the Constitutional Court. Dragoş Pîslaru:
“They seem like delays that are made with a very clear purpose, namely to preserve certain interests, given that the magistrates are in a situation of conflict of interest on this subject. Until we have the official letter, I cannot tell you that we have lost money, but as the Prime Minister has said, the chances of recovering them after this postponement are extremely low.”
“The issue of work pensions must be solved. It is impossible that in a country where the largest section of society is justly saddened by this issue, we should not be able to resolve this matter,” said the minister for development, Cseke Attila. The Senate speaker, Mircea Abrudean, who described the situation as “sad”, believes that Romania will probably lose funds from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Last Friday, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan sent a letter to the Constitutional Court stating that postponing the decision on magistrates’ pensions could lead to the loss of European funding. According to the Romanian press, the European Commission “took note” of the new postponement of the Court. In a response to a private television station, European officials said they are still analysing the situation and that they are about to decide whether to maintain or not the suspension of 231 million euros from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
