Radio România Internațional

Tag: judicial error

  • The Justice Laws, under Scrutiny

    The Justice Laws, under Scrutiny

    In the one and a half years since the latest legislative elections, the judiciary has been a recurrent theme for the leftist government formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. One by one, the justice laws, the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure were all refashioned. Power says it was absolutely necessary to bring these laws in line with the rulings of the Constitutional Court and to improve them so as to close the doors for abuse in the judicial system.



    The Opposition, on the other hand, criticises the quasi-authoritarian manner in which the political majority changes the relevant legislation. Furthermore, together with magistrate associations and international bodies, Opposition MPs perceive this large-scale legislative process as a poorly disguised attack against the independence of the judiciary and an attempt to undermine the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, the spearhead of the fight against corruption.



    A constant critic of the ruling coalition, President Klaus Iohannis has already announced he would resend the justice laws to the Constitutional Court. The Chamber of Deputies has already received for review the bill on the status of magistrates, which was already subject to an unconstitutionality ruling. The Constitutional Court found the text at odds with the Constitution, and a special parliamentary committee headed by the Social Democrat Florin Iordache operated a number of changes, including a redefinition of the concept of judicial error. The parliamentary majority decided that a judicial error takes place where judicial proceedings have been ordered in obvious breach of the relevant legislation, or when a final and binding ruling has been passed in violation of the law. The Opposition claims this definition is far from clear, and announced a new notification of the Constitutional Court is being considered. Here is Senator Alina Gorghiu of the National Liberal Party:



    “I seriously doubt that the concept of judicial error has been regulated to the standards required by the Venice Commission, which is obviously why we will not hesitate to send it to the Constitutional Court. And this is not only to annoy Mr Dragnea, although I do not mind this, but because we believe the judicial system deserves better laws.”



    Florin Iordache replies that the new definition is in line with the comments made by the Constitutional Court and better regulates the responsibility of magistrates:



    “As we said from the very beginning, we want magistrates to be liable for bad faith or gross negligence, but we also want a good definition of what judicial error is, so as to make sure that moving against a magistrate is only possible in case of judicial errors. Unlike our colleagues in the Opposition, we actually came up with a text, we were constructive and offered a starting point for debate.”



    Parliament’s agenda also includes talks on the suggested changes of the Criminal Code. The Higher Council of Magistracy has already notified all courts and prosecutor offices that it would not support the introduction in the Criminal Code of such offences as “bad faith,” “gross negligence” or other offences liable to infringe upon the independence of the judiciary.


    (Translated by A.M. Popescu)

  • December 19, 2017 UPDATE

    December 19, 2017 UPDATE

    LEGISLATION – The Senate of Romania Tuesday endorsed a bill modifying the statute of magistrates, in the absence of Opposition MPs. At the time of the vote, the MPs of the National Liberal Party, the Save Romania Union and the Peoples Movement Party left the hall, leaving only the Social Democrats, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania to cast their votes. Several amendments, previously turned down both by the Chamber of Deputies and the special parliamentary commission that analysed the bill, were passed by the Senate, at the proposal of the Social Democratic Party. The most important of them has to do with the concept of judicial error, which entails magistrates liability in case of fault or negligence. Prosecutors or judges having committed a judicial error will therefore be held liable. The Opposition announced it would take the text endorsed by the Senate to the Constitutional Court. Also on Tuesday, Romanian MPs continued debates on other major bills in a package designed to change the judicial framework, namely the bill on judicial organisation and the bill regulating the Higher Council of Magistrates. Meanwhile, hundreds of magistrates gathered in front of courts of justice around Romania, to protest the changes that the ruling coalition intend to operate on the justice laws in what they see as a less than transparent process.




    COMMEMORATION – Commemorative events continue in Timisoara, western Romania, to mark 28 years since the 1989 anti-communist revolution and in memory of those who lost their lives. Events will continue until December 20, Victory Day, when Timisoara will play host to a rock concert. Started out as a grassroots movement against the local authorities abusive decisions, the revolution spread quickly across the country, and led to the demise of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu on December 22. Over 1,000 people were killed and nearly 3,400 were wounded over December 16-25. Romania was the only country from the Soviet bloc where the anti-communist revolution ended in violence with the dictatorial couple being executed. Prosecutors with the Military Prosecutors Office on Monday said a military diversion was orchestrated on the night of December 22, which led to a massive loss of lives and destruction.




    BUDGET – The Romanian Parliament is debating the draft budget for 2018. Tuesdays session looked at the addendums, after the body of the text and its articles were adopted on Monday, together with the funds allotted to the main credit release authorities: the Presidency, the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, and the Governments General Secretariat. A final vote has been scheduled for Thursday. Romanias budget for next year is based on an economic growth rate of 5.5%, an exchange rate of 4.55 lei against the euro, an average monthly income of €565 and a budget deficit of 2.97% of the GDP. The priorities for 2018 are healthcare, education and infrastructure. The right-wing opposition has criticized the Government, saying the budget projection is risky and will most likely increase public debt.




    SURVEY – Over 85% of businesspeople in Romania are against the transfer of social security contributions from employers to employees, reads a recent survey commissioned by the Council of SMEs. 60% of respondents said they encountered serious difficulties in implementing and negotiating the move starting January 1, 2018. Ovidiu Nicolescu, the honorary president of the Council of SMEs, has warned that many net salaries will drop. The survey was conducted over December 12-18 on a sample of 328 businesspeople.




    RwB – 65 journalists were killed in 2017 worldwide, of whom 50 professionals, 7 bloggers and 8 freelancers, reads the Reporters without Borders annual report, made public on Tuesday. According to the report, 2017 was the least deadly in the last 14 years, which is mostly due to a better protection of reporters, and the fact that most journalists have already fled countries located in hot zones across the globe. Same as last year, Syria ranks first in terms of the largest number of journalists killed (12), followed by Mexico (11), Afghanistan (9), Iraq (8) and the Philippines (4).


    (translated by: Vlad Palcu, Ana-Maria Popescu)