Romania's High Court refers magistrates' pensions law to Constitutional Court

The pension law "brutally violates the independence of the judiciary" and "de facto eliminates the service pension for magistrates," according to the reasoning published by the High Court (ICCJ) along with its decision to refer the magistrates' pensions law to the Constitutional Court, Ziarul Financiar reported.

The Constitutional Court will rule on the ICCJ's objections on December 10,at the same time as another key law proposed by the government for increasing, among others, the local taxes.

The president of the High Court, Lia Savonea, convened the United Sections of the Supreme Court on Friday, December 5, to analyse the opportunity to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court regarding the new draft law on magistrates' service pensions. The decision was adopted unanimously, 102 out of 102 judges present.

Following the previous complaint filed by the High Court, the judges of the Constitutional Court declared the law unconstitutional on formal, extrinsic grounds. Marginal amendments were brought to the first version of the law, primarily envisaging a longer period (15 years instead of 10 years) for lifting the retirement age to the standard 65 years.

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