MP of the PAS group of the ACUM Bloc Sergiu Litvinenco registered a legislative proposal for amending the Law on the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) with the Parliament’s Secretariat. The MP suggests that the members of the SCM chosen from among law professors should be further named by Parliament, but should be selected by a special commission set up by the Parliament’s Standing Bureau, IPN reports.
Sergiu Litvinenco said each parliamentary group should field by a candidate for member of this commission. These should not be MPs, holders of public posts or party members, but persons working in the field of law, representatives of the academia and civil society from the law sector.
According to the MP, if there is political will, the legislative proposal can be given two readings in the first siting of the current session of Parliament. The proposal was drafted in accordance with the Venice Commission’s recommendations formulated in its opinion on the bill to amend the Law on the SCM that Parliament adopted first in two readings and then asked for the Venice Commission’s opinion on it.
Sergiu Litvinenco said in its opinion, the Venice Commission recommended analyzing the opportunity of appointing the members of the SCM on behalf of Parliament by a qualified majority of votes, for example 2/3, or considering the possibility of an independent commission electing these members. Nevertheless, the law that took effect on January 31 provides that the Parliament’s legal commission is the one that chooses candidates for the post of SCM member.
The MP noted this is a problem as the legal commission consists of MPs of the parties represented in Parliament and the principle of independence of this commission cannot be ensured, as the Venice Commission underlined.
