The President of the High Court for Cassation and Justice (ICCJ – Supreme Court) Cristina Tarcea has requested the two speakers of the parliament chambers and the Special Committee to allow the Ministry of Justice to complete the legal procedure as initiator of the justice laws and to resend it the draft bill.
Tarcea claims that the independence and effectiveness of the justice system were exigencies Romania had to meet and that, when Romania joined the EU, the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) was established to support mending the deficiencies in the judicial system reform and to fight corruption.
“In the last EC report to the European Parliament and to the European Council, it is highlighted that for meeting the CVM objectives ‘a combination of legal and institutional decisions’ is needed. This means first of all transparency, cooperation and institutional dialogue. Also, the law adoption mechanism, regardless of the regulating field, involves the observing of legal provisions on which the mechanism is based. Yesterday, the Justice Ministry, invited by the joint Special Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, announced that it has to submit the draft to the committee, although it was supposed to find the procedure to be followed. The entire route of the proposals to amend Laws no. 303 and 317, adopted in 2004, proves that there was no transparency, cooperation and inter-institutional dialogue and that the legal provisions on elaborating and approval of the normative acts haven’t been observed,” Tarcea said.
The ICCJ President added that the Justice Ministry has assumed the legislative initiative and is to propose to the Government the amendments to the three laws. Public debates have taken place and the approval procedure has been initiated.
“I find out that, instead of completing the assumed procedure, the Justice Ministry has taken note it should submit its proposals to the joint Special Committee. (…) According to the public statement made by the initiator, yesterday in parliament, it is not clear in what quality and on the basis of what procedure the minister has submitted his proposals to the Special Committee,” Tarcea said.
The Supreme Court President says that before any other discussions regarding the amendments, the legal framework should be clarified, as adopting the Justice Laws involves rigor, transparency and predictability.
“Hence, I request the speakers of the two chambers of Parliament and the Special Committee to allow the completing of the legal procedure assumed as initiator by the Justice Ministry and to resend it the draft bill for finalisation. This is the only solution ensuring realistic regulations,” Cristina Tarcea says.