Top Judicial Watchdog’s Judges’ Section: Judicial Decree Provisions Not Proposed By CSM

The Judges’ Section said in a statement that the decree’s most contentious points, regarding changes to the appointment of top prosecutors and the functioning of the magistrate investigation section, were not in fact proposed by CSM, as the institution only requested changes with regards to admission contests into the National Institute of the Magistracy.

The section also accused that the short debate time denied CSM any real possibility to give a review on the entirety of the decree.

“The request to review this draft bill was sent to the Council on February 18, 2019, one day before the decree was adopted. In these conditions, the Council lacked the real possibility to express a review,” reads the statement.

Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader announced the decree in question on Tuesday and presented several of its amendments, mainly regarding the criteria for appointing top prosecutors.

In addition, the bill contains several changes to the contest for admission into the National Institute of Magistracy (INM) and the attributions of the Supreme Court’s Section for Investigating Judicial Offences (SIIJ) chief-prosecutor, and blocks delegations into chief prosecutor roles.

The decree amends the procedure for appointing top prosecutors, with candidacies to be reviewed by the CSM’s plenary, instead of the institution’s Prosecutors’ Section, as was the case until now.

It also extends the eligibility criteria for top prosecutor offices to judges who have previously been prosecutors, instead of only prosecutors who are active at the time of the nomination.

The act was criticized by Romania’s main prosecutors’ offices, but also by top judicial watchdog CSM’s Prosecutors’ Section and by National Union of Romanian Judges. The institutions accused that its provisions might block the agencies’ activities and infringe on the principle of separating the careers of judges and prosecutors.

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