Ombudsman Takes Rest Leave As He Receives Multiple Requests To Challenge Government Decree

On Wednesday morning, a delegation of opposition party USR went to the ombudsman’s office in Bucharest to file a request in this regard, but were received by members of his staff, who informed them that Ciorbea took rest leave without temporarily assigning his powers.

USR Chairman Dan Barna remarked the fact that the ombudsman “just received his special pension,” referring to a bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday which extended retirement benefits of Constitutional Court judges to Ciorbea’s office.

“This is somehow a reaction I anticipated from Victor Ciobea, the individual. The institution has the obligation to function and respond to requests. It’s clear now that the Government decree has been passed either out of stupidity or malice. We from USR say it is malice,” said Barna following the incident.

Later in the day, both the Liberal Party and General Prosecutor Augustin Lazar made similar requests to the ombudsman’s office, with the liberals threatening to file a criminal complaint against Ciorbea in case he will not delegate his powers, calling him an “enemy of the people”.

The ombudsman responded to the criticism on Wednesday evening, stating that the requests were being analyzed by the institution’s litigation bureau.

Ciorbea added that he had scheduled the rest leave six months in advance, with plane tickets and hotel services booked in September.

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 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 correlate 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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