Why does the Minister of Justice claim that “the rhetoric is a bit paradoxical” related to the CCR judges supported by the PSD who blocked magistrates' pensions

“We can't wait indefinitely, but it's not good to rush the act of justice either,” says the Minister of Justice, Radu Marinescu, commenting on the successive postponements of the Constitutional Court on the project regarding magistrates' pensions. He claims that the four constitutional judges who blocked the last two sessions were proposed by the PSD as part of a “political algorithm” and that they have no obligation of loyalty to those who supported them to reach the CCR.

“It's about a government project, it's about a matter related to the government program. It's about public policies and, after all, if we're being honest, it's about a bill initiated by the Ministry of Labor co-initiated by the Ministry of Justice by PSD ministers. And then, this rhetoric related to the PSD seems a little paradoxical”, said Radu Marinescu, on Saturday, on Prima TV, referring to the situation at the CCR, where the constitutional judges supported by the PSD blocked the decision regarding the law that modifies the pensions of magistrates.

He claims, moreover, that it is not “very rigorous” to say that the PSD proposed the four judges who did not participate in the CCR meetings and did not ensure the necessary quorum for a decision to be taken:

“First of all, that they are proposed by the Chamber (Chamber of Deputies – no) or by the Senate or by the president, through a political algorithm, but the most important aspect is that they are obliged by law, when they occupy that position at the Constitutional Court, to detach themselves from any kind of political contamination, so to speak. They have a statute that guarantees them that they are immovable, they cannot be revoked by the parties that, let's say, proposed them there and then they have, so to speak, a mission to be objective and impartial which should come very easily, because, I repeat, they no longer have any obligations of gratitude towards those who proposed them”.

“It is not good to rush the act of justice”

Regarding the absence from the last sessions of the CCR judges supported by the PSD, the minister said, according to News.ro: “I don't know if it is a presentation or a non-presentation of what was presented by a part of the Constitutional Court, so to speak, it would be understandable that it was a non-presentation, from what the others presented it would be understandable that, in fact, additional clarification of certain aspects was desired. The fact is that we do not have a decision”.

Asked about the repeated postponements of the CCR's decision on the magistrates' pension law, the PSD Minister of Justice replied: “We cannot wait indefinitely, but on the other hand, I repeat, it is not good to rush the act of justice either.

The Constitutional Court postponed three times the ruling on the referral to the Supreme Court regarding the law that modifies the pensions of magistrates. The last time was on December 29, when the decision was postponed until January 16. The cause was lack of quorum, after four judges of the Court boycotted the meeting for the second day in a row. It is about the judges proposed to the CCR by PSD: Cristian Deliorga, Gheorghe Stan, Bogdan Licu and Mihai Busuioc.