“Without a meritocratic system of appointments and promotions in the public service, the system cannot be sustainable and those who are appointed cannot enjoy particular immunity. The appointments in the public service should be primarily based on merits and less on loyalty towards a particular person,” said Vladislav Gribincea, president of the Legal Resources Center from Moldova (CRJM), IPN reports.

In the presentation by the Center of a report titled “Promotion of prosecutors, from legality to reality (January 1, 2019 – May 31, 2021)”, Vladislav Gribincea said that despite the provisions of the new law on the prosecution service of 2016, which limited the discretion of the prosecutor general and of the Superior Council of Prosecutors, particular aspects as regards appointments and promotions can be improved.

One of the main findings of the study is that the current state of affairs in the prosecution system does not fully encourage competition between prosecutors and most of the times the contests to fill executive posts are just formalities. Of the 26 executive posts put up for contest, there was by only one candidate in the case of 20 of these. Also, 17 of the 26 executive posts put up for contest were occupied by candidates who already held the post for which they applied on an interim basis. In at least 65% of the cases, the chief prosecutor was identified by the prosecutor general and was invested formally, at contests staged by the Superior Council of Prosecutors.

Also, only 12 of the 124 executive posts existing in the prosecution service in 2020 were held by women.

The report authors recommended the Superior Council of Prosecutors to publish the announcements concerning vacancies on the institution’s website. The contests to fill the vacancies should be held on exact dates, two times a year (not every two-three months). A recommendation is to exclude the practice of organizing separate contests for graduates of the National Institute of Justice. Authentic contests with as many upright and professional candidates should be held. The prosecutors should be transferred on a contest basis, by recognizing the transfers as promotion.

The study that analyzed promotions in the prosecution system was financed by the U.S. Embassy in Moldova.