Judicial reform brings new, interesting elements, but with reduced impact

[Analysis by Corneliu Gurin for Info-Prim Neo of the Series “Justice reform under civil society scrutiny”] The bill on the reformation of the legal system contains several new, interesting elements aimed at making the justice administration bodies more responsible. It includes provisions concerning penalties that can be imposed on judges and new stipulations regarding the administration of courts, including the institution of the post of secretary general, who will manage all the administrative activities, as well as other amendments, which, though succinct, will bring about important changes. There are also objections yet, as regards the appointment of instruction judges. They are named as the other judges, but the bill suggests appointing them every year. Thus, the judges will hold the post in rotation and the administrative powers of the court’s president will increase. A problem that was not addressed in the bill is the court president’s role of coordinating the financial resources. There were opinions that this role should be preserved. Others said this should be the responsibility of another functionary, not of the court president. The law on the status of judge and the method of appointing judges remained unchanged. The submitted proposals, including in the meeting of the national council for the reform of the law enforcement bodies, concern the depoliticization of judges. Under the present procedure, the head of state or Parliament can either accept or reject the proposal of the Supreme Council of Magistrates. It was proposed setting the shortest possible term. If the President or Parliament do not pronounce on the Supreme Council of Magistrates’ proposal within 30 days, the given right will be transferred to the Council. The justice reform addresses financing in the legal system and there is envisioned a new law on judges’ salaries. But it is not clear when this law will be applied as the necessary money was not identified and the bill was not finalized. The proposal to provide the judges with assistants is again omitted. The assistants will contribute to the improved quality and efficiency of the judge’s work. As to the draft reformation strategy, it focuses more on the Ministry of Justice and the reduction of the Parliament’s role. This will be practically impossible as the legislature adopts laws and must control the implementation process. There are also objections as regards financing and the correlation of the strategies as different approved documents have not been correlated with the new strategy and certain approaches that can affect the situation, for example the human rights. It is suggested that the swift investigation activity should be controlled by prosecution bodies, not judges as at present, which can result in abuses. The impact of the justice reform will be rather reduced as things do not change essentially. A number of aspects have been omitted, including the examination of the judges’ integrity, even if it is proposed submitting certain statements. The proposal to accept persons from outside in the legal system, i.e. teachers or persons who worked in the field of law, by bypassing the National Justice Institute, derogates from the legislation and the previous principles. [Corneliu Gurin, law expert of the Association for Participative Democracy ADEPT, for Info-Prim Neo]