A CSM member reacts harshly after Oana Gheorghiu's statements regarding magistrates' pensions. “Incitement to class hatred in its purest form”

Deputy Prime Minister Oana Gheorghiu's statements regarding special pensions have provoked harsh reactions among magistrates, who accuse an attack on the independence of the judiciary and a rhetoric that fuels social resentment. A CSM member accuses her of inciting “class hatred in its purest form”.

Alin Ene is outraged by the statements of the new prime minister, Oana Gheorghiu. PHOTO: Facebook/Alin Ene

The statements made on Saturday, November 8, by the new Deputy Prime Minister Oana Gheorghiu about special pensions generated strong criticism from the judges. She had stated that Romania “can no longer afford to have special pensioners”, comparing the system of special pensions to “a kind of Caritas” and claiming that the necessary money could come “from the mouth of a child who goes to bed hungry”.

A harsh reaction came from Alin Ene, an elected member of the Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM), who qualified the statements of the deputy prime minister as “a public attack” on the independence of the judiciary, accusing Oana Gheorghiu of escalating the anti-justice discourse, already existing among some members of the governing coalition.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Alin Ene criticized “labels” and messages suggesting that magistrates' rights represent privileges obtained “from someone's mouth”. The magistrate emphasized that the independence of justice is not an abstract concept or a luxury “paid from the mouths of hungry children”, but a foundation of the rule of law, essential for protecting any citizen against abuses of any nature, political, economic or social.

“Incitement to class hatred in its purest form”

He wanted to point out that the service pension of magistrates is not a privilege, but a constitutional guarantee intended to protect judges from pressure, including after the end of their professional activity, and that comparing this institution with “Caritas” means questioning the legitimacy of the functioning of the rule of law. In his opinion, when a dignitary minimizes the role of judges, the message sent to society is one of discrediting the entire judiciary.

The magistrate also criticized the way the deputy prime minister's speech creates a false opposition between the magistrates and the “hungry child” or the “hospital without medicine”, categorizing it as a form of manipulation. He states that such messages represent a method of social antagonism and even “an incitement to class hatred”, incompatible with the position of deputy prime minister.

“Building such an artificial opposition is not just cheap manipulation – it is a method of social antagonism, an invitation to collective resentment, an incitement to class hatred in pure form, unworthy of the position of deputy prime minister.

It is a rhetoric of social division, historically used to identify “internal enemies” and channel public resentment. It is not the language of a dignitary in a modern European state”, he wrote on Facebook.

In the same context, the magistrate also referred to public expenses which, according to the logic invoked by the deputy prime minister, could be questioned: the funds allocated by the Senate for decorative objects, the substantial sums offered as subsidies to political parties, the billion euros paid for excess doses of the anti-Covid vaccine or the high costs associated with an audience with the prime minister.

Alin Ene's reaction comes after, in an intervention on a television station, Oana Gheorghiu explained the fact that Romania “cannot afford” to continue paying these special pensions and that, if the resources must be directed to them, they are taken “from somewhere”, including “from the mouth of a child who goes to bed hungry” or from the budgets of hospitals without medicine.

Despite the fact that the deputy prime minister specified that these statements represent a personal opinion, which he had not expressed publicly until now, the statements of Oana Gheorghiu provoked a harsh reaction from those directly targeted.