Romania’s magistracy council signals fierce resistance to PM’s plan to curtail  magistrates’ privileges

Romanian PM Ilie Bolojan operates outside of the legal procedures when initiating consultations on a proposal for amending the legislation on the service pensions in the field of Justice, the Romanian Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) said in a press release&mc_cid=a9147a7199&mc_eid=607bd7d763) on July 30.

The document launched by the government is not formally a draft bill since it is not initiated by ministries including the Ministry of Justice, CSM points out hinting to a remark made by Minister of Justice Radu Marinescu who denied paternity of the project or any involvement in its design.

There is nothing to discuss, CSM concluded, putting a premature end to the prime minister’s invitation to debates.

Furthermore, CSM warned PM Bolojan that he "doesn't have the legal capacity to initiate such a process.” CSM said that it is not willing to give its opinion on the proposal drafted by PM Bolojan since it is an illegal procedure aimed at adopting a normative act regulating the judiciary system without genuine consultation of the judiciary authorities.

The response signals the otherwise expected CSM’s fierce resistance to reforming the system of pensions granted to magistrates from an early retirement age of 48 years, which in some cases exceeds the wages earned by the same magistrates when in office. Curtailing the budgetary impact of the system is a target Romania committed to meeting under the Resilience Facility.

On July 29, the PM unveiled a plan to increase the retirement age for magistrates to 65 years (in line with all the other employees) from around 48 years currently and to increase the minimum work period from 25 to 35 years.

He also proposed a new formula for calculating the magistrates’ pensions: instead of 80% of average gross income in the past four years, the pension would be calculated as 55% of the average gross income, not including the one-off bonuses in the past five years, but no more than 70% of the most recent net income.

The draft published by the government envisages a transition period until January 2029, during which the retirement age will rise from 47 years and 8 months currently to 65 years.

(Photo: George Calin/ Inquam Photos)