The judges do not support the external assessment of the judiciary and consider that this can be done at internal level by improving the assessment criteria. The issue was discussed in a working meeting centering on the strategy for ensuring the independence and integrity of the justice sector for 2021-2024 and the action plan for implementing this, IPN reports.
According to Luiza Gafton, acting president of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM), the Council approved of the new strategy and proposed several amendments. It considers the judges should be assessed only at the internal level.
SCM member Nina Cernat noted that the Council should be given broader powers by a special law and the composition of the Assessment Board should be extended by including external experts into it. The assessment should cover the integrity of judges and also their skills and possibly their state of health. Simultaneously, the working conditions of judges should be improved and their salaries should be raised.
Vice president of the Edineț Court Eugeniu Pshenitsa said that during 18 years while he has been working in the system, the criteria for assessing the judges have been permanently changed. There is no legal framework needed for external assessment. The current legislation needs to be improved, but without the involvement of foreign experts.
The meeting also discussed President Maia Sandu’s proposals concerning the implementation of the mechanism for the external assessment of judges, strengthening of the independence of judges by adopting legislative amendments in accordance with the development partners’ recommendations and launch of viable reforms in the anticorruption system.
