Liberal Party To Inform Venice Commission Of Government Judicial Decree

“We will inform members of the Venice Commission regarding this decree, regarding the way in which it was passed and especially about the crooked manner in which the prestige of the Commission was used to enact provisions which are actually contrary to the observations its experts made,” liberal spokesperson Ionel Danca announced on Wednesday.

Danca also announced that the party sent a request to Ombudsman Victor Ciorbea to challenge the decree at the Constitutional Court.

Regarding the fact that the ombudsman took a vacation on Monday without temporarily delegating his powers, the liberal spokesman announced that the party is considering filing a criminal complaint against him.

The European Commission is following evolutions regarding the decree and will “thoroughly analyze” its amendments and draw “adequate conclusions” in the case, according to a statement released earlier in the day.

“We are following the recent evolutions with concern and will thoroughly analyze the amendments. As we have said numerous times already, the existence of a professional and independent judicial system has a very importance,” stated a Commission spokesperson.

An emergency decree passed by the Romanian Government which amended recently enacted judicial decrees was published in Romania’s Official Journal on Tuesday, more than 24 hours after it was passed.

The provisions in the official version of the bill correlate with those announced by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader following Monday’s cabinet meeting.

The decree delays the enactment of a provision which would see thousands of magistrates benefit from a lowered retirement age until the end of 2019, temporarily alleviating fears that it might further depopulate the country's judicial system.

Another provision raises the requirements for magistrates activating within the country’s top prosecutor’s bodies – the National Anticorruption Directorate and anti-organized crime agency DIICOT - to at least ten years of prior experience as a prosecutor.

The decree is meant to correlated the recently enacted judicial bills with recommendations issued by the Venice Commission in July, but only addressed two of the seven proposals made by the institution.

 

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