Elena Costache, president of the CSM. Photo: National Institute of Magistracy
The Supreme Council of the Magistracy issued a negative opinion for the project that increases the retirement age of the magistrates, which means that now the Prime Minister can start the steps to hire the responsibility. The deadline imposed by the European Commission expires tomorrow, if the law is not adopted, Romania risks losing over 200 million euros from the PNRR.
The Minister of Justice Radu Marinescu also participated in the plenary session of the Superior Council of the Magistracy which started at 11:00.
The issue of the advisory opinion, without which the prime minister cannot take responsibility for the project that increases the retirement age, was not on the agenda of the plenary session.
However, the agenda of the meeting was supplemented, and the members of the CSM gave a negative opinion.
Now that the opinion has been issued, even if it is negative, the prime minister can start the procedure of hiring responsibility for the reform of the magistrates' pensions.
Steps to accountability in Parliament
The prime minister is likely to commit to pension reform next week.
The new project on magistrates' pensions has been published. Provides for a longer transition period until the retirement age of 65 – DOCUMENT
Now that he has received the approval, the Prime Minister will convene the Government meeting to adopt the project. It will then be sent to Parliament, where senators and deputies can table amendments. They will be analyzed in a new meeting of the Executive, where they can be adopted or not.
After this second meeting, Prime Minister Bolojan comes to Parliament to pledge his responsibility.
The project can then be challenged at the CCR by the parliamentary groups, by the High Court of Cassation and Justice, by the president or by the People's Advocate.
The judges of the Constitutional Court will decide whether the reform is constitutional or not. If it passes the constitutionality test, the law goes to promulgation.
The last time the CCR did not analyze the first version of the reform of the magistrates' pensions for procedural reasons, because the Government had not waited 30 days for the CSM's opinion, without analyzing the actual text of the law.
Magistrates from all over the country, consulted on the project for which the Government is waiting for the opinion of the CSM
Throughout the country, on Monday, November 24 and Tuesday, November 25, the general meetings of prosecutors and judges take place, in which the magistrates express, at the request of the Superior Council of the Magistracy, their point of view regarding the new draft law that increases their retirement age. On Monday, the Bucharest Court of Appeal, for example, rejected the Government's project.
The reform, under the pressure of European money
In order for Romania not to lose 231 million euros from the PNRR, the reform of magistrates' pensions must be adopted by November 28. The adoption of this new attempt at reform, however, depends on the opinion of the CSM, because the CCR declared the first law unconstitutional due to the fact that the Government did not wait 30 days for the opinion.
According to the draft law of the Bolojan Government, the amount of the service pension for magistrates will be 55% of the calculation base, represented by the average of the gross allowances of the last 60 months, but not more than 70% of the last net allowance received in the activity.
Currently, the service pension of magistrates is 80% of the last gross salary, but not more than the last net salary received.
The transition to the standard retirement age of 65 will take place in 15 years, instead of 10 years as provided for in the previous project.
Magistrates will still be able to retire early, provided they have 35 years of service, but if they have not reached the age of 65, an annual penalty of “2% until they reach the standard retirement age in the public system” will be applied.
