Romania: judicial reform rejected, judges retain privileges
Romania's Constitutional Court on Monday rejected a law that would have abolished major pension privileges for judges and public prosecutors. Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan had made his staying in office contingent on the reform going through, but since the rejection was not in principle but on technical grounds he has said he will present a new version of the law instead. The government needs to act quickly as judicial reform is a requirement for Romania to access EU funds.
Completely unjustified
The constitutional judges are shamelessly clinging to their high pensions, human rights activist Gabriel Andreescu writes on Contributors:
“The independence of the judiciary is a principle guaranteed by all European constitutions. If it had to be protected by extravagant salaries and retirement at an age when judges are in their prime professionally, such conditions would be standard in all European countries. However, in no respectable democracy do we find a ratio of 10 to 1 between and judges' pensions and average pensions, nor do we find that judges can retire significantly earlier than all other employees.”
Passing legislation will become more difficult
The ruling has major ramifications for the entire legislative process in Romania, comments Radio Europa Liberă:
“In future, both the parliament and government will have to wait until the various institutions have given their opinions on any draft law. Otherwise, there is a risk that they will not meet the constitutional requirements – as was the case with the law on judges' pensions, which has now been overturned on procedural grounds. With Monday's decision, the Constitutional Court has changed its own case law: from now on, the entire legislative process will have to comply with the new rules.”
State left weakened
Deutsche Welle's Romanian service doubts that Bolojan's four-party coalition will hold out for long:
“President Nicușor Dan and also the leaders of the coalition parties have pledged their support to the prime minister, but the rifts within the ruling coalition are becoming increasingly obvious. However in addition to the squabbling between the parties in the ruling coalition there are also key institutions like the Constitutional Court which, with their decision on the reform of judges' pensions, are turning the country into a weak state.”