The three members of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) from among civil society who were appointed by the Parliament will have the duty to unlock the processes in the justice system until all the members of this Council are named. The SCM members from among civil society will not take decisions concerning the work of judges, but will be able to announce the contest to fill the vacancies at the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), said the head of the Parliament’s legal commission Olesea Stamate, who noted that even if the current SCM consists of only three members, it is functional. For his part, judge Anatolie Țurcan criticized the government for the decision to subject the judges to extraordinary assessment and said that the pre-vetting commission is politically controlled, IPN reports.
On March 30, the legislative body confirmed Tatiana Ciaglic, Ion Guzun and Alexandru Postica as members of the SCM on behalf of civil society.
“We anticipated that the members from among civil society and the judge members can be named not concomitantly. We anticipated that these procedures will not necessarily be synchronized or not all the 12 members will be named and the quorum of 2/3 of the total will not be ensured this way. We therefore decided to amend the law so that the SCM could take particular decisions with the votes of 2/3 of the appointed members. I heard accusations from judges who said that this is against the Constitution and against the Venice Commission’s recommendations. It’s true that the Venice Commission said the SCM cannot take decisions concerning the career of judges without the participation of judges. But this SCM that became functional will not take decisions regarding the career of judges,” Olesea Stamate stated in the talk show “Shadow Cabinet” on JurnalTV channel.
According to her, the three SCM members will announce contests to fill vacancies. In parallel, the General Assembly of Judges is expected to name the SCM members from among judges. “The role of this incomplete SCM is to unlock processes. For example, it will announce a contest to fill the vacant posts of judge of the Supreme Court of Justice from among judges and non-judges. If the SCJ cannot work due to the large number of resignations, the SCM can temporarily transfer judges from courts of another level, who meet the legal requirements for serving on the SCJ until the vacancies are filled. The current incomplete SCM can do such things. Yes, this SCM will be unable to take decisions concerning disciplinary punishment, dismissal and appointment of judges,” explained Olesea Stamate.
Judge Anatolie Țurcan welcomed the General Assembly of Judges’ decision to put off the appointment of candidates who passed the test of the pre-vetting commission. According to him, the justice sector reform is vitiated and the representatives of the Legal Resources Center from Moldova (LRCM) are behind this reform.
“The pre-vetting is not sufficient. The pre-vetting is not credible. The pre-vetting commission consists of two members from the LRCM and the secretariat also includes representatives of the LRCM. Parliament voted in a former mender of the LRCM. Everyone knows that the founder of the LRCM wants to become president of the Supreme Court or judge at the Constitutional Court. Don’t you realize that those from the LCRM led those from Parliament to an absolutely mistaken path?” said Anatolie Țurcan.
Under the law, the Superior Council of Magistracy consists of 12 members. Six of them, who are non-judges, are named by Parliament by the votes of 3/5 of the MPs. The General Assembly of Judges that was to select the judge members of the SCM was interrupted until April 28.
