Faced with a wave of retirements in the judicial system after the topic of abolishing special pensions and lowering the retirement age of magistrates was reopened, Justice Minister Katalin Delivery comes with explanations. He says that pension reforms will be pushed through the draft law and “respect the status of independence of the magistrate”.

The justice minister’s clarification “based on consultations held recently at political and government levels” and after he said he met on Wednesday with the labor minister, saying the bill was not currently being drafted and the labor ministry had complete “analysis of statistical data”.

What Predoyu says:

• “1. The reforms proposed by the MMPS in the area of ​​retirement will respect the status of independence of the magistrate and will be advanced through a draft law, which must be approved by the CSM and the Ministry of Justice.
• 2. The reforms will fully respect the constitutional framework and the international legal framework, of which Romania is a party, regarding the status of independence of the magistrate, including regarding the retirement age threshold.
• 3. MMPS will develop and draft a regulatory framework with transparency and consultation with all social partners, including representatives of the authorities and the judiciary, through the CSM, the guarantor of the independence of the judiciary. Currently, such a bill has not been developed, the MMPS is going to complete the analysis of statistical data on social and professional systems in the near future.
• 4. The Ministry of Justice will remain in constant contact at the ministerial level with both the MMPS and the CSM, the Prime Minister and the leaders of the ruling coalition and will immediately inform the authorities and the judiciary of any developments that may intersect the authorities and the judiciary.
• 5. The stability of the judicial system, including from the point of view of providing human resources, magistrates, as well as secretaries, specialized personnel from the courts and the prosecutor’s office, probation inspectors, remains constantly under the attention of the Ministry of Justice. In this sense, future legislative initiatives put forward by the Ministry of Justice in the coming days regarding the status of secretaries and specialized personnel in courts and prosecutor’s offices, as well as the status of probation inspectors, which are at the final stage of approval, as well as about other similar draft laws that will follow.
• 6. The Ministry of Justice will continue to take a responsible approach to the issue of staffing the judicial, penitentiary and probation systems, decisions on cooperation with the Government, the Parliament, as well as with the CSM and social partners within the framework of the above. – mentioned systems.
• 7. The Ministry of Justice remains constantly open to dialogue with all the above-mentioned institutions and organizations, the problem of human resources involves a solution both in the short term, which ensures the stability of the systems, and in the medium and long term by strengthening the statutes of all professions in these systems, such as , among other things, increasing the institutional capacity of the training of the National Institute of Masters, the adoption of a legislative framework on the status of secretaries, legal specialists from the courts and prosecutor’s offices and probation staff, including by eliminating pay inequality in these systems and gradually covering vacant positions in staffing schemes in courts, prosecutor’s offices, penitentiary institutions and probation. Law enforcement systems function effectively only to the extent that they are properly equipped with human and logistical resources and operate on the basis of agreed laws.”

We will remind you that the resumption of discussions on the cancellation of special pensions led to an unprecedented situation in the judicial system: at the last meeting, last week, the section for judges of the High Council of Magistracy (VCM) approved the applications for retirement of 60 people. magistrates

Deputy Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said in an interview with Digi 24 on Monday that special pensions should be regulated in such a way that the pension is not higher than the salary and that the retirement age of 40 should be abolished, with some exceptions. According to him, a delegation of the European Commission is currently in the government, which will also discuss the topic of special pensions, a milestone that Romania has taken on in the PNRR.

Also, UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor said on TVR on October 25 that “there is confusion” regarding special pensions.

Information about the possibility of reducing special pensions and changing the conditions for the retirement of magistrates inflamed the judicial system and led to an unprecedented situation in the judiciary: at its last meeting, last week, the section for judges of the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM)) satisfied the request for the resignation of 60 magistrates.

The World Bank recommends that the current special pensions be calculated on the basis of the contributory principle, so that a new category of special pensions does not appear, and the current ones be “rationalized” so that the incomes on the basis of which pensions are calculated for years of service. be calculated as an average of income earned over a longer period of time, and no special pension should exceed the income for a period of activity.

For judges and prosecutors, the World Bank recommends reviewing the right to retire at any age with 25 or more years of professional activity. It is necessary to gradually increase the 25-year service to 30 years and introduce a minimum retirement age. This age should be gradually increased to 60-65 years.