Unofficial translation
PRESS RELEASE
On 28 October 2022, at the premises of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, a working meeting was held between the President of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, Judge Corina Alina Corbu, accompanied by the Vice-Presidents of the Supreme Court, Judge Gabriela Elena Bogasiu and Judge Ilie Iulian Dragomir, and the presidents of the Courts of Appeal.
Fifteen out of 16 Courts of Appeal were represented at the meeting by their Presidents or, if unable to attend, their Vice-Presidents.
Discussions focused on improving mechanisms for unification of case law, including the creation of a partnership on a National Network for Unification of Case Law, with contact points in all courts of last instance, issues related to the envisaged takeover of the courts’ budget, in terms of staff costs, by the High Court of Cassation and Justice, as well as topical issues related to information that has appeared in the public domain on the status of magistrates and the organisation of the courts.
Following the meeting, the participants agreed on the adoption of a Resolution on the stability of the status of magistrates as a guarantee of the independence of justice, as well as on the quality of justice and the unification of judicial practice.
In the Resolution adopted, the Presidents of the Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeal noted that both the retirement age of magistrates and the amount of the occupational pension are in fact a partial compensation for the working conditions, risks and responsibilities involved in the exercise of these professions, as well as for the regime of incompatibilities and prohibitions which establish limitations on certain categories of fundamental rights.
Given that the status of judges is of constitutional rank – its benchmarks being enshrined in the provisions of Article 124(3) and Article 125 of the Romanian Constitution – it is considered necessary for all branches of power to assume the principles of stability and predictability of this status, avoiding legislative experiments.
Any changes regarding the increase of the retirement age should not affect the rights of judges in office, should be gradual, phased and correlated with the pace of improvement of working conditions.
The authorities should deepen their human resources management policy in order to implement forward-looking management, avoiding any risk of reducing the number of magistrates, given the need to manage a large number of cases. A change in the retirement age would undoubtedly have repercussions on both the career development of magistrates and the organisation of the courts.
Moreover, in the context of the legislative process for the adoption of the new “Justice Laws”, just this month, the Romanian Parliament has reconfirmed the same basic conditions for obtaining an occupational pension currently in force.
It was considered that the periodic re-examination, at short intervals and in the absence of objective justifications, always in a negative sense, of the status of judges worsens the human resources situation, by increasing the pressure and the psychological burden of this function and has, in the end, a negative effect on the quality of the act of justice, to the detriment of the citizen.
In terms of working conditions, it was felt that the progressive improvement of working conditions in the courts should be undertaken through a concrete strategic document, including detailed investment objectives, deadlines for completion and sources of funding.
High Court of Cassation and Justice