The European Commissioner for Justice in Bucharest
The rule of law in Romania is again under the European Commission’s scrutiny
Bogdan Matei, 13.02.2026, 13:50
Michael McGrath, the European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, met the head of the government in Bucharest, Ilie Bolojan, during a technical mission on strengthening democracy and the rule of law in Romania.
High on the EU official’s agenda were talks with representatives of high-ranking officials in the country’s legal system and prosecutor offices, magistrates, civil society organizations as well as with the country’s Foreign and Justice Ministers, Oana Ţoiu and Radu Marinescu respectively. All these meetings are part of the preparation process of the European Commission’s annual report on the rule of law in member countries.
Prime Minister Bolojan says that after the so-called Mechanism of Cooperation and Verification, through which Brussels was monitoring the good functioning of the Romanian justice, had been dropped, ‘the prerogatives of the political factor in handling the magistrates career were significantly reduced and the responsibilities concerning the budgets and promotions have been transferred towards the leading structures of the legal system”. “These changes have as objective the consolidation of the independence of justice and the institutional balance” the Prime Minister went on to say. He has obviously brought into attention “the reform of the service pensions and the system’s sustainability in the context of the latest budget challenges and the PNRR milestones and against the background of significant differences between the pensions in the legal system and the national average”.
The issue has become a topical one in Romania after the Constitutional Court has postponed for five times a ruling on the bill endorsed by the government under which the pensions of judges and prosecutors are to be cut so that they may not exceed the last salary of their mandate and raises their retirement age, which at present is around 48-50 years. Romania runs the risk of losing 230 million Euros worth of community funds as the law on the magistrates’ pensions has been agreed upon with the European Commission as a milestone in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, known as PNRR
The European Commissioner McGrath hailed what he described as the constant cooperation of the authorities in Bucharest in the process regarding the rule of law and underlined the importance of the constructive dialogue between the European Commission and the Romanian government. The European Commission, he says, is ready to support Romania mainly in terms of ensuring the effective investigation and criminal prosecution of offenses in the judicial system, guaranteeing the independence of high-ranking prosecutors and clarifying aspects related to the prescription regime. Romania and European Commission will continue the dialogue for the consolidation of an effective, independent and credible judicial system – an official communiqué says.
(bill)
