A special commission on three laws on justice began, on Wednesday the debate essentially had on the agenda the law of the Supreme Council of Magistrates. In the first part of the debate, deputies and senators considered approximately 160 articles and rejected in general some amendments submitted by USR, AUR, as well as amendments by CSM and associations of magistrates. whatat the same time, parliamentarians adopted some of the proposed changes.

Parliamentary commission – laws on justice, magistrates and prosecutorsPhoto: Hotnews

Changes adopted by the special commission on justice:

  • One of the adopted amendments stipulates that within 60 days after the meeting of the Higher Council of Magistracy, the duties and responsibilities of each permanent member will be defined according to the areas of activity. Initiator: Senator Robert Kazanchuk.
  • Also, the new amendment concerns aappointment of representatives of civil society as members of the CSM. Thus, they must be specialists in the field of law with at least 10 years of experience in the legal profession or with a higher legal education.“. In the version developed by the Ministry of Justice, the 10-year term applied only to legal activities. The amendment was formulated by the CSM and adopted by the PSD and PNL parliamentarians.
  • The members of the High Council of Magistracy are elected from among the judges and prosecutors appointed by the President of Romania who have not been subject to disciplinary action during the last 3 years, except for cases where the action has been canceled,
  • At the same time, the work of plenary meetings and sections of the Higher Council of Magistracy is, as a rule, public. Members of the plenary session or sections decide by majority vote the issue of non-open sessions. Sessions of the sections, which decide on petitions regarding the appointment of search, detention, preventive arrest or house arrest, judicial control or judicial control of bail for judges or prosecutors, as well as hearings and meetings in disciplinary cases, are not public.”

The work of the commission will continue on Thursday, September 15. It should be noted that at the political level, the PSD, PNL, UDMR coalition decided that the parliament should pass three laws on justice by October 10.