With 198 votes “for”, 80 “against” and 4 abstentions, the deputies adopted on Tuesday the draft law on the status of judges and prosecutors, which is included in the package of laws on justice. The controversial amendment, which allowed a judge to be the general prosecutor, was canceled by the members of the special commission.

More precisely, before preparing the final report of the law, the parliamentarians of the special parliamentary commission for the examination of laws on justice resumed the discussion of the controversial amendment and put it to a second vote. The amendment by Yussain Ibrahim was unanimously rejected.

• Parliament made a decision at the last minute: the amendment that allowed a judge to be the general prosecutor was canceled

Thus, judges and prosecutors have the powers of magistrates, and the career of judges is separate from the career of prosecutors.

At a meeting of the Chamber of Deputies, Minister of Justice Katalin Predoyu stated that the draft law had passed all the procedural stages provided for by law.

“It is very important that this project raises to the level of law a number of norms that existed until now in the internal regulations of the High Council of Magistrates regarding the careers of judges and prosecutors, starting with the entrance and examination for legal capacity, appointment, promotion. place or depending on the performance, promotion, transfer from the position of judge to the position of prosecutor and vice versa, secondment, delegation, transfer of judges and prosecutors, etc.,” explained the minister, according to the Agerpres agency.

Among the adopted amendments:

• Judges and prosecutors who have passed the legal capacity test are appointed by the President of Romania on the proposal of the relevant section of the High Council of Magistrates to the positions of judges or prosecutors in the courts or prosecutor’s offices where they were appointed as trainees. .
• The integrity of judges is evaluated according to the following indicators: violations of the Code of Ethics of judges and prosecutors, established by the final decisions of the Section for Judges of the High Council of Magistracy; disciplinary sanctions related to matters of integrity that remained final during the assessment period, except when the disciplinary sanctions were withdrawn; adjudication before the assessee judge of certain decisions on suspension of penalty application, on refusal of penalty application, decided by final court decision, as well as on refusal of criminal prosecution, confirmed by the judge of the preliminary examination chamber, for which the Section for Judges Affairs did not propose dismissal according to law .
• Trainee judges participate with the right of an advisory vote in the consideration of cases in the panels of courts, which consist of permanent judges.
• The delegation of prosecutors to the National Directorate for Combating Corruption and the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism can be appointed only once, for a maximum of one year, without the possibility of extension, without the professional degree provided for in the draft law. if necessary, but in compliance with the conditions of work experience provided by the law for appointment to the position of prosecutor of these specialized structures.
• Judges and prosecutors have the freedom to express their opinion (…) in accordance with European documents on the freedom of expression of magistrates’ views, undertaking to refrain from defamatory expressions or statements in any form during the performance of their duties. By the way, to other bodies of state power – legislative and executive, in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Ethics for judges and prosecutors.
• The duration of professional training courses for court auditors is 3 years. After completing the courses, auditors of justice are elected in accordance with this law to the positions of trainee judge, respectively trainee prosecutor.
• The psychological test is conducted before a commission consisting of 3 psychologists who evaluate the candidate as “suitable” or “unsuitable”.
• In the event of an unjustified refusal of a judge or prosecutor to conduct a specialized examination within the established time frame or if the examination cannot be conducted due to the judge’s or prosecutor’s fault, the relevant section of the High Council of Magistrates shall order his suspension from office for a period of one year. During the period of removal from office for this reason, the judge and prosecutor are not paid their salary, and the provisions on prohibitions and incompatibility provided by the regulatory act do not apply. This period is not included in the length of service. Suspension from office is terminated earlier than the one-year period following the submission of a judge or prosecutor to a special examination, termination of suspension is confirmed by the decision of the relevant section of the Supreme Council of the Justice of the Peace.
• Provisions on disciplinary offenses and disciplinary sanctions against judges and prosecutors, respectively, also apply to employees of legal specialties, who are equal to judges and prosecutors, and the procedure for applying disciplinary sanctions is provided for by this Law.
• The application of disciplinary action to a person holding a managerial position, in addition to a warning, entails removal from the managerial position.
• Judges of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, who have worked in this court for at least 5 years and were dismissed from their positions for dishonorable reasons, may choose the legal or notary profession without an exam or competition.
• By law, judges and prosecutors can take out professional malpractice insurance against gross negligence. The insurance is fully covered by the judge or prosecutor.

The Senate is the chamber that decides on this bill.

The draft statute of judges and prosecutors is the third normative act from the package of laws on justice, after those concerning the High Council of Magistracy and the judicial organization, which were already adopted at the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies.