Meeting now at the High Court, which wants to attack Bolojan's law on magistrates' pensions at the CCR

The judges of the High Court of Cassation and Supreme Justice, led by Lia Savonea, met on Friday, from 12:00, in a meeting to decide on the draft law that changes the retirement conditions for magistrates and for which the Government assumed responsibility in Parliament.

The meeting of the reunited sections of the High Court of Cassation and Justice takes place to vote whether or not to appeal to the CCR the project regarding the modification of magistrates' pensions.

The decision they reached will be announced at 1:00 p.m., in a press statement at the headquarters of the Supreme Court in Bucharest.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan took responsibility in Parliament for the law on magistrates' pensions. The opposition has already submitted a no-confidence motion, and the vote would take place next week.

The draft law, which was also part of the second package of measures for which the Government assumed responsibility, was contested at the CCR, and on October 20 the court determined that it is unconstitutional, as the legal deadline for issuing the advisory opinion of the SCM was not respected.

Changes compared to the first version that Ilie Bolojan assumed responsibility for

The law that Ilie Bolojan has now assumed responsibility for has only one major difference compared to the first version, which failed at the CCR in October (due to the lack of an opinion from the CSM). Compared to the first option, the law provides for a transition period of 15 years, and not 10.

• The draft law stipulates that the pension be equal to 70% of the last net salary, as in the previous form proposed by the Bolojan Government, rejected by the Constitutional Court.
• The transition period, however, increased from 10 to 15 years. Concretely, this means that in 15 years, magistrates will retire at 65.
• Each year, the retirement age will increase by one year until, in 2042, prosecutors and judges retire at 65.
• According to the draft law, the amount of the service pension 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.
• 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.

Currently, the service pension of magistrates represents 80% of the last gross salary.

For the new law, the Government waited for the CSM's opinion, which, however, was negative.