Romania's top judicial bodies reject involvement in magistrates' pension bill

Romania's High Court (ICCJ) and the Supreme Council of Magistracy (CSM) have both de facto refused to participate in consultations on the government's draft law regulating magistrates' pensions, according to Digi24.

The statements issued by both ICCJ and CSM indicate no commitment on their part to contribute to the rewriting of the law in such a way that would not breach the constitutional provisions in their view.

Romania needs to enact the law before November 28, or else it would lose EUR 231 million of Resilience Facility funding. ICCJ has referred the law to the Constitutional Court, which returned it to Parliament on procedural grounds, although ICCJ has also raised objections on substantive grounds.

The president of the ICCJ, Lia Savonea, stated that the Court "is not the legislative advisor of the government or Parliament," responding sharply to remarks by Kelemen Hunor, president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR).

"The High Court categorically rejects the statements circulated in the media according to which it would have expressed agreement or validated in any way the draft law on magistrates' pensions. Recent statements, including those made by Hunor Kelemen, which leave the impression that there would have been an acceptance of this project by the High Court, do not correspond to reality and risk affecting public trust in the independence of the judiciary," stated Lia Savonea, according to a press release of the High Court.

The High Court recalled that, "according to the Constitution and the law, it does not have the power to approve legislative projects."

"An informal consultation cannot be interpreted as an institutional agreement nor as a validation of the content of a draft law," the cited source also indicated, implying the existence of such consultations.

Kelemen Hunor had said that the draft law, referred to the Constitutional Court (CCR) by the ICCJ, had previously been sent to the High Court "for analysis" before being approved by the government.

The bill, which seeks to align magistrates' pensions with the national budget framework under Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan, has become a politically sensitive issue. Magistrates' associations have strongly opposed any reform that would reduce benefits, many of which allow retirement around the age of 50 with pensions exceeding previous salaries.

Following Hunor's comments, the CSM condemned what it called an "unacceptable and unprecedented incident," alleging that the statements risked impairing the independence of the Constitutional Court.