Romanian Government Adopts Decree Partially Repealing Controversial Judicial Act

The act will repeal provisions of the decree which concern the procedure of appointing top prosecutors, as well as a restriction on delegations into lead prosecutor roles, which sparked protests from magistrates all around the country.

“The new provisions reflect the proposals made by magistrates regarding the principle of separating the careers of judges and prosecutors, the delegation of prosecutors into lead prosecutor roles and the appointment into lead prosecutor offices which are appointed by the president of Romania,” the prime minister said.

The Government will adopt the partial repeal despite the fact that the country’s top judicial watchdog, CSM, gave the bill a negative review earlier on Tuesday and requested a repeal of all of the initial decree’s provisions which were not proposed by the council.

The decree was initially announced on February 19 by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader, who argued that it contained provisions previously requested by CSM. It was criticized by the country’s top judicial institutions and by magistrates throughout the country, who feared that its effects could block the activity of major prosecuting agencies and accused that it infringes the principle of separating the careers of judges and prosecutors.

The judicial watchdog later announced that it only requested some of the decree’s provisions, mainly regarding the National Institute of the Magistracy.

The act’s most criticized provisions made judges who previously worked as prosecutors eligible to be appointed into lead prosecutor roles, and had the review process for said roles passed from the CSM’s Prosecutors’ Section to the body’s plenary. The initial form of the decree also blocked delegations into the aforementioned offices as a temporary alternative in the lack of full-time lead prosecutors.

Courts throughout country announced in the past week that they will continue protests supporting a full repeal of the emergency decree, despite the justice minister’s announcement of the partial repeal last week. The justice minister however ruled out the possibility of abolishing all of the decree’s provisions.

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