Justice reform areas generate heated discussions among experts

The modification of the composition of the Supreme Council of Magistrates and the proposal that the judges should make public the decision with the motivation in the same meeting or present the motivation later, but in public meeting, are heatedly discussed within the working group for amending the legislation on civil procedure, in the context of the reform of the legal system, Cristina Cojocaru, expert of the Association for Participative Democracy ADEPT, stated for Info-Prim Neo. “If a judge needs two weeks or a month to write the decision, he should set the date of the hearing within the given period so that the reasons are clear when he passes the decision and the sides can appeal it, fully knowing the motives. This is one of the points that the representatives of the legal system oppose as they believe that the secret of deliberations will be violated,” said Cristina Cojocaru. Four working groups were created at the Ministry of Justice to improve the bills considered in the process of reforming the legal system. The experts examine bills on the reformation of the prosecutor’s office, judicial organization, civil procedure and criminal procedure. Cristina Cojocaru said that a law on the transparency of decision making, adopted in 2008, obliges the authorities to publish the bills on the official websites. Any person or organization has the right to submit comments and analyses. Under an older strategy for cooperation between Parliament and civil society, the legislative body must keep the bills on its website for at least 15 days before they are passed. According to Cristina Cojocaru, during many years ADEPT has formulated and submitted proposals. When the bills are published on the Parliament’s website, ADEPT will contact the experts who examine these bills. “It is not easy to reach compromises. The judges do not always accept our proposals. The opinions of civil society differ from those of the Ministry of Justice. It is a democratic process, but we are waiting to see the final bills,” said the expert. She also said that they suggested amendments to a number of draft laws that were discussed within the working group, but the considerations stopped owing to the changes that took place at the Ministry of Justice. The working groups consist of civil society experts, representatives of the Supreme Council of Magistrates, prosecutors, academicians and others.