The Legal Resources Centre of Moldova criticizes the amendment of the legislation that allows the appointment of international members to the evaluation committees of prosecutors and judges with only 51 deputies’ votes. The CRJM experts consider the decision unjustified, emphasizing that it was adopted quickly, without public consultations. Moreover, according to them, this decision sends a negative signal to European institutions, reports IPN.
According to CRJM, the amendment was included in a different bill and voted on in the same Parliament session, in the second reading. “It is an absolutely regrettable decision, because it is not justified, it was not consulted and I believe it will serve as a fairly poor signal for the European Commission”, declared the president of CRJM, Ilie Chirtoaca.
CRJM notes that the previous threshold of 61 votes was not set arbitrarily. This offered the guarantee of broad political support for the members of the commission, as recommended by the Venice Commission. The Association warns that changing the legislation without public debates affects the credibility of the justice reform and that such a precedent can weaken the guarantees included in other laws.
And Promo-LEX lawyer, Vadim Vieru, criticized the Parliament’s decision. According to him, the majority preferred to change the rules instead of obtaining political consensus for the appointment of committee members. “The Constitutional Court is to rule, the law has already been promulgated, and the Government will have to explain to Brussels why it proceeded this way”, the expert noted.
The provisions whereby members of external evaluation committees will be appointed by a vote of 51 deputies, rather than 61, came into force on Friday, with the publication in the Official Gazette of the decree promulgating the law.
